The Last of Us: Revelations
by SarcasticalCrab
Summary: "Turns out, there's a whole lot more like you, Ellie." Joel said these words not knowing just how true they would turn out to be. An unexpected appearance reveals just how far that statement goes. A new beginning leads to new hope and a new mystery never seen or heard of before.
1. King Firefly

Chapter 1: King Firefly

"So how did it go down with the fireflies? Should we be hearing a happy announcement anytime soon?"

Joel was long gone in his thoughts. They were currently at the gates on guard duty. Nothing has happened for the past couple of weeks but that's never a green light to lower their defenses.

Joel was stuck in a never ending day dream that even haunted him in his nightmares. Each one was slightly different from the other, but no less traumatizing.

One would involve Joel failing to save Ellie. The fireflies caught him and they took her away. His second loss. But this time, he wouldn't be alive to grieve.

Another would be the same except Ellie was replaced with Sarah.

But the worst one of all was the most vivid and detailed. He had given into to Marlene's pleas and handed Ellie back to her. She had allowed him to stay, despite murdering the doctors and half her team. Since the rest of her team had every valid excuse to kill him, he remained in the parking lot for a good month, in a van, with Marlene bringing him food and water three times a day.

But one day, she didn't come. Not once. The next day, Joel went to go find her.

Her look said everything

The vaccine had failed.

Everything, _everything_ had been in vain.

Joel ran back to the parking lot and put the barrel of the gun in his mouth…

"Joel!"

"Huh? Sorry, what?"

"You never told me what went down with the fireflies? Is there a cure on the way?" Tommy asked.

"There…there is no cure. No vaccine." Joel croaked out.

"Oh, so the plans failed?"

Lying to Ellie was easy, but lying to your own flesh and blood?

That's even harder.

"Not…exactly."

"What do you mean?" Tommy caught the look in his eyes and didn't need any further words.

"You didn't." Tommy muttered.

Joel remained silent, internally preparing himself for the ear chewing he was sure was coming.

"Why, Joel? All this way…and you just back out?"

"They were going to kill her, Tommy." Joel said. "I just…I just couldn't go through that again."

Tommy sighed. Still an open wound. "I understand that. Believe me I do. But…how could you take this away from them? This could have brought an end to this."

"The world took something from me, so I'm taking this away from them." Joel responded, a bit colder than he anticipated.

Tommy relented. Joel's words held a lot of truth. If it weren't for the fucking military…

"Did you tell her?"

Joel sighed deeply. "No. I told her that there's more like her out there and that they stopped looking for a cure. At least with her."

"Jesus, Joel." Tommy muttered.

"Look, Tommy, hear me out for a second." Joel said. "On the way, believe me, I was fighting with myself on whether or not I should let them go through with this. After my first throw down with the fireflies, I almost turned around and left them to do it."

"So what made you change your mind?"

"I found this tape and listened to it. It started out as a whole bunch of science mumbo-jumbo…but then he said something that struck me."

"What did it say?"

**~T~L~O~U~**

Tommy called back up to the gates and asked them to cover their shifts, saying there was a personal emergency he needed to tend to.

Tommy led Joel to where they could talk in private. Joel reached into his bag and took out the tape. He pressed play.

At the end, Tommy was silent.

"God damn." Tommy muttered.

"I know it sounds a bit ambiguous but it's made me think, y'know?" Joel said, putting the tape away.

"Ambiguous is one word. Come to think of it, I did hear talk about a woman being scratched on the cheek by a clicker."

"And?"

"She never turned." Tommy responded. "But strangely enough, she picked up the ability to use echolocation."

"You mean she could do what those clickers do?"

"Yes indeed." Tommy responded. "But I just thought it was just something to comfort the brain at night. Though, after hearing that tape…damn. I don't know."

"So now you see why I took her? Why waste her life when there could be others like her out there?"

"On top of that…this isn't actually their first shot at making a vaccine." Tommy walked over to a chair and sat down, propping his feet on the table nearby.

Joel's eyes widened. He followed his brother and sat down across from him.

"Again, these are just rumors but…" Tommy trailed off. "This is might take a while."

"I've got all day." Joel responded, anxious to hear what Tommy had to say.

"Ellie'll wonder where you are. You're always home by sunset."

"I left a note, told her I was going to take the night shift tonight."

Tommy raised a brow. "Were you really?"

"No."

Tommy stored this bit of information away. Joel never took the night shift. He always wanted to take morning jobs and be there for Ellie at night. She apparently still had her night terrors from time to time.

"Okay. To start with, Marlene wasn't always the sole Queen Firefly. Beside her, there was this guy, King Firefly if you will. He's the one who discovered that certain people were immune. Before Marlene took over, he headed a project that would reverse engineer a vaccine. But the only difference was, the host didn't need to die."

"But the fungus grows all over the brain."

"He was a brain surgeon. One of the best ones, if not THE best, in the world the way I heard it. Really good chemist too. Shit, he was just good with science overall. He practiced with several monkeys and managed to remove the fungus without killing them. Monkeys were infection free and made a full recovery with little to no complications."

"So what happened to him?" Joel asked.

"Not sure. He was working on this project at Long Island College Hospital in 2022. But a group of military stormed the place. They bombed it and the place went up in flames. All his work was gone."

"Did he die?"

"The other fireflies that were with him, yes. But him…rumor is he's still alive somewhere."

"And that's when Marlene completely took over?"

"Don't know the exact details but yeah. She's technically the one who refounded the fireflies but she is…well, _was_ their leader."

"And there's no sign of him anywhere? Not a single trail?"

"I don't know. There was a guy in my squad who was close to him and kept in contact with him after the explosion. But something happened and he lost contact."

Joel sat back, speechless. A lie he had come up with, some of it right out of his ass, might actually be the truth. It significantly eased up his guilt about lying to Ellie.

"Now, it's time for you to answer me this." Tommy said. "What did you take the night shift for?"

Joel sighed. He was hoping to keep this under wraps.

"Joel?"

"Back at UEC, Ellie…she saved my life."

"How so?"

Joel stood up and rose up his shirt.

"Holy shit! How'd that happen?" Tommy stood up as well and went over to Joel to get a better look at the wound.

It was still a bit red around the edges but the stitches were still in there. Overdue to be removed.

"Fell on a piece of on rebar." Joel let his shirt fall down. "Ellie knew what to do. She stitched me right up and took care of me for three straight months."

"Damn." Tommy muttered. "So what does this have to do with you taking the nonexistent night shift?"

"She asked me something a little before this happened and turned it into a bet. If she got me out alive, I would do it for her. So…now I'm working on that."

"Which is?"

"Call it a gift." Joel said with a small smile.

Tommy got the hint that he wanted to keep this under wraps. "Ah, okay. I suppose I got enough information out of you today. I'll let this one slide."

"Tommy, come in. Is everything alright?" Maria's voice spoke through the walkie-talkie.

"Yeah, just something I had to care of with Joel." Tommy responded.

"Is he okay?"

"Everything's fine, Maria."

"He better not be fixing to take you away again." Maria spoke sternly, sending a chill up Joel's spine

Joel laughed with a hint of nervousness. Damn that woman is scary.

"Nothing of the sort, Maria. I'll be home soon. Is it okay if Ellie stays over tonight? Joel needs to take care of some personal business tonight."

"Sure, I'll get the room ready."

Tommy clicked off the walkie-talkie.

"Well, what're you waiting for then? Night shift starts in an hour." Tommy smiled.

"Thanks Tommy."

"I'll keep an eye on Ellie for you. She'll be in safe hands."

Joel nodded. He stood up and quickly ran home. Ellie was going to be home from her shift soon and he needed to be long gone by then.

He didn't want to ruin the surprise. After months of pestering and asking, she would finally get her wish.

**~T~L~O~U~**

Night fall soon shrouded the settlement. The night was cool and the full moon shone brightly in the sky People were either going home to be with their family or on their way to their night jobs. Joel was in that crowd but he had a different purpose.

He spotted Tommy and saluted at him. Tommy nodded and mouthed good luck and be careful.

Joel then went to the doors of the settlement and walked out, making the sure the doors were securely shut behind him. They haven't had a break in for weeks, but he wasn't about to be the cause of another one.

Joel walked a few yards away until he reached what he deemed to be a good spot, not too far away from the settlement but far enough where the night guards wouldn't spot him and mistaken him for a threat. Protocol tends to lean more towards "shoot on sight" at night.

He sat down, leaning slightly against a tree trunk and began to build a small fire. The cool temperature was at a comfortable level now, but it could topple at any moment. Spring weather tended to act that way these days.

Once the fire was lit, Joel reached into his bag and pulled out his notebook and pencil. He opened it and went directly to work.

A good half hour of silence went by before Joel's consciousness was pulled back to reality.

"Joel, is it?" A voice behind Joel said.

Joel immediately dropped his pencil and notebook and grabbed his gun. He stood and looked around, trying to find the source of the voice.

"No, I'm not here for that." The man stepped out of the darkness with his hands up. No sign of a visible weapon on him.

"Could have fooled me." Joel kept his gun firmly pointed at the man.

"I just want to talk." The man said, his voice remaining soft yet deep, steady, and confident.

Joel took in the appearance of this man. His brunette hair was noticeably long, being held back in a small bun. His soft green eyes were bright in the slight darkness. He wasn't too tall, probably standing at 5'9" or 5'10". He was also in shape but not too bulky.

He wore an open plaid blue button down shirt with a black t-shirt underneath, jeans, and black sneakers.

He wasn't young, possibly around Joel's age if not at least five years younger. His face was covered with dirt, living in this world can do that to a person. He also had a slight presence of a beard growing in. But the noticeable freckles on his face gave him the appearance of a young child.

Almost like…

"Alright." Joel said.

"May I have a seat?" The man asked.

Joel nodded.

The man sat down in front of the fire. Joel sat across from him and kept his gun in close proximity, just to be safe.

The man brought his hands together, brought them to his lips and closed his eyes, as if he were uttering a silent prayer. After a brief moment of silence, he let out a deep breath and finally spoke up.

"I understand that my little girl is in that there settlement? Tommy's settlement? Safe and sound?" The man fired these questions off without skipping a beat.

Joel brought his gun up and pointed it at the man, nearly pulling the trigger. "Who?!" He growled

"Ellie, I think it is? That's what she named her? Beautiful name."

Joel's eyes widened and the grip on his gun wavered a bit. "Who the hell are you?" His voice was shaking.

"My name is Edward Williams. You can just call me Ed or any variation you like." He said softly. He paused. Joel dropped his gun once more and subconsciously leaned in out of anticipation.

"And…" The man paused once more. "And…Ellie is my daughter."

* * *

Oops a new TLOU fanfic. And it won't be a short one either x3. I have an entire summer for this =D

Odd thing is, the inspiration of this story came from listening to **Viva La Vida** by **Coldplay**.

I hope you all enjoyed this =) Please leave a review of what you think :3


	2. Long Live the King

Chapter 2: Long Live the King

Joel pointed his gun at Ed again. "Like hell you are."

"Just…hear me out please." Edward pleaded. "I've…it's been so long. 12 years I think I counted. Ever since what happened at Long Island…"

Joel cut him off.

"You're fucking with me, right?"

"What?" Ed asked, confused at the sudden outburst.

"_You're_ King Firefly?" Joel said incredulously.

"That's the nickname they gave me? Shit, I was fine with Ed-boy." He chuckled. "Anyway, I'm going to guess Tommy told you about me?"

"Yeah….but how do you know?"

"He talked about you a lot when he was with the fireflies. Plus, you may think there's none but I can see the family resemblance there."

Joel put his gun down.

"So, what did he say about me?" Ed asked.

"He really painted you out to be God. Hard to believe him to be honest." Joel said "Said you were up there as the best brain surgeon in the world. And that you and science seem to be best friends."

Ed smiled and waved him off, as if it was no big deal.

"So what brings you here?"

"Little birdie told me I'd find the answers to my questions if I came here. Looking pretty good so far."

Joel nodded.

"So I'm guessing we can't go to the settlement just yet?" Ed asked.

"Yeah, ever since we picked up that nearby bandits and hunters prefer to attack during the night, we've become a little less forgiving."

"Hmm." Ed pursed his lips in thought. "Mind if I camp out here with you for the night?"

"Be my guest. You seem harmless enough." Joel responded, tucking his gun away to a safe spot. "But mind you I don't give that privilege to a lot of people. Don't blow it."

"Wouldn't dream of it. It'd be a waste to come all this way just to get my head blown off."

Ed made himself as comfortable as possible next to the fire. He laid down on a patch of jagged rocks.

"That don't seem too comfy." Joel commented.

"Eh, I've slept on worse." Ed responded. He interlocked his fingers and placed them on his stomach.

The two of them fell into a comfortable silence, Joel scribbling away in his notebook and Ed watching the night time sky. From time to time, Joel heard Ed mutter some things about the stars; the constellations.

"So what you working so hard on over there cowboy?" Ed asked.

"Just a gift." Joel responded.

"For Ellie?"

"Yeah."

"Mind me asking why? Don't think it's her birthday yet."

"It's payback…she…well she saved me. This is my way of expressing gratitude."

Ed whistled. "Damn. I haven't even met her and I'm fucking proud."

"Mmm."

A brief moment of silence followed.

"Well, I'm going to try and get some shut eye." Ed announced. "Night Joel."

"Night."

"_She saved me."_ Whenever Joel thought that, she mainly thought of the rebar piercing through him and how Ellie stitched him up; took care of him until he was able to get back on his feet. But God, it was so much deeper than that.

After the death of Sarah, Joel had become a different man, he could admit that much. Something inside him just withered and died away. And that made him into the cold hardened survivor he is today.

But then he met Ellie. The both of them did not like each other in the beginning that much was evident. Although, over time they began to grow a special bond and that empty spot in Joel was slowly filling up.

Then seeing her in that burning restaurant, hacking away at this man's head, Joel knew that she wasn't doing it just for the fun of it.

And that broke him all over again. But for a different reason.

As tough as Ellie was, she was still a little girl trying to grow up in this aged world. At that moment, she became his baby girl.

And he'll do anything for her.

**~T~L~O~U~**

He doesn't know exactly when, but Joel fell asleep. He was hunched over in a not so comfortable position slightly leaning next to the tree trunk behind him. He opened his eyes halfway and began rubbing at his neck, trying to crack out the kinks. He stretched his back out, groaning as the reality of his age harshly hit him. The smell of burning meat brought him further out of his slumber.

Joel opened his eyes all the way and found Ed cooking a large piece of meat on a grill over the newly reborn fire.

"Morning." Ed said with a smile.

"Mornin'" Joel drawled out.

"Thought I'd go and fetch you breakfast. The least I could do." Ed said. "Y'all have good game out here. Took down a huge deer; there's enough meat to last at least a week, maybe more."

"How did you-?" Joel's question trailed off as he noticed Ed's bag. There was a bow and about six or seven arrows, a hunting rifle, a machete, and a revolver. The bag itself appeared to be fairly full, most likely with raw supplies, extra food and water, and more weaponry.

"You had that the whole time?" Joel asked. He didn't recall seeing Ed with some sort of bag on him. But in his defense, it was dark.

"Well, yes and no." Ed responded. "I figured that coming here weapons and all wouldn't exactly help my cause much. So I left my bag somewhere nearby then planned to retrieve in the morning or if this ordeal went south."

"That's courage." Joel commented, feeling slightly impressed. Not too many people feel too confident approaching others without some sort of equalizer.

"Funny. That's not what a lot of people called it."

"What did people call it?"

"Being a dumbass."

Joel chuckled. "Smells good."

"Should be done in a few minutes." Ed sat back, letting the meat cook further.

A silence fell between the two, the sounds of nature taking over.

"So…" Ed began. "Not to be nosy or nothing but I uh, took a look at what you were scribbling in that notebook."

"It's sweet that you're writing a song for her."

"Yeah, the girl's been hankering for me to sing for her ever since I let it slip that I wanted to become one, before the world went to shit."

"I hear that." Ed said. "We all had dreams before they were ceremoniously shat on."

"Y'know, I used to sing for her too."

Joel raised a brow. "From what I gather, you weren't exactly around her when she was growing up in Boston."

"Yeah, I admit that. But I used to pretend that she was there with me or I was there with her. I'd close my eyes and I'd sing a song. I sang a lot of different songs but I always came back to a personal favorite of mine. I would sing it to her any chance I had."

"What song?"

"Viva La Vida by Coldplay."

Joel thought back. He remembered listening to Coldplay while he was growing up and was delighted when Sarah said she was a fan of them too. Viva La Vida was a common favorite between the two of them.

"You think…if all goes well you and I could so some sort of duet or collaboration for her?" Ed asked nervously.

"I'll think about it, but let's see how things go first." Joel responded. "And as long as you don't sound like two cats trying to murder each other."

Ed laughed out loud. "I guess that's all up to your discretion."

Ed turned his attention back to the now done meat. He went over to his bag and pulled out two small pristine plates and two plastic forks, and two switchblades. He removed the meat from the grill and put it on a plate. He then used one of the switchblades to cut the meat down the middle and placed the second half on the other plate. He placed a fork and a switchblade on the plate before handing it to Joel.

Joel took the plate and nodded his head in thanks.

Once Joel was done he placed the plate on the ground, leaned back and rubbed his full stomach. Having a meal like this was a luxury nowadays. There were meals like this in Tommy's settlement but something about this just felt more…satisfying.

"I'll take that Joel." Ed said, just finishing off his plate.

Joel nodded and handed his plate, fork, and switchblade to Ed. Ed reached into his bag and pulled out a plastic bag. He also pulled out a rag to clean off the switchblades then placed the plate and fork in the plastic bag, most likely to be washed later.

He placed everything into his bag then pulled out a large water bottle and poured it all on the now fizzled out camp fire. He used the dirt to ensure that the flames wouldn't re-ignite themselves.

"Right then. Shall we head to the settlement then?"

"Yeah, let me just give Tommy a quick heads up."

Joel went to his bag and pulled out his walkie-talkie.

"Come in Tommy."

"Morning Joel. Everything alright?"

"No complaints. Everything go smoothly with Ellie?"

"She was no problem at all. She did wake up screaming during the night but Maria and I managed to calm her down."

Joel expected that. Her night terrors have been getting worse lately, but the real trouble was that she refused to talk about them. She claims that they're of bloaters ripping her face open but Joel suspected it wasn't that.

He and Ellie never really talked about what happened when he found her in the burning restaurant. Maybe someday he'll get it out of her or she'll be able to talk about it on her own. But no matter how long it'll take, Joel will wait. He wanted to get to the bottom of this so he can kill these nightmares, once and for all. It ate away at him to see Ellie so torn up about this.

"Listen, you mind meeting me at the front gates I got a bit of a…discovery here, for a lack of better words."

"Uh sure, I'll be over there in a few. In case you get over there before I do, I'll give the boys a holler that you're on your way to ensure they don't shoot at you."

"Thanks Tommy"

"No problem."

They ended the conversation. Joel put his notebook, pencil, and walkie-talkie back in his bag. He tucked his pistol in the back of his pants. He did one more look around to make sure he had everything then turned to Ed.

Joel could tell by his body language (rubbing his nose, wringing his hands together, occasional biting of the lips) and by the unsure look on his face that Ed was nervous.

He had to be Ellie's dad. They shared similar nervous tics.

"You alright?"

"Yeah, yeah." Ed responded. "Lead the way."

Joel nodded and walked ahead, Ed followed close behind.

**~T~L~O~U~**

Joel and Ed arrived just as Tommy opened the door.

"Good to see you in one piece there Joel." The two of them shook hands and bumped shoulders. "Now what's this discovery…?" Tommy looked over Joel's shoulder and his eyes nearly popped out of his head.

"God damn." Tommy muttered. He walked past Joel and to Ed. "Long live the King."

"You really have to call me that?" Ed asked. They both laughed out loud and hugged each other.

"Let look at you." Tommy broke the hug. "The years have been good to you."

"I think merciful is a better word, Thomas."

Joel suppressed a snicker at the formal use of his brother's name.

"What took you so long? I was beginning to assume the worst."

"I've been on quite the journey these past couple years. For a while, I thought it was best to stay in northern Cali for a while. Until I spotted your signal. Then I just-"

Tommy sputtered. "Why don't we get you on inside so we can have a proper talk?" He squeezed Ed's shoulder.

"Joel, Ellie's at your house with Maria. There's no school today. You and her are going to be hunting today if that's alright with you."

"Oh!" Ed unhooked the large bag with the remainder of the deer he killed earlier from his backpack. "A house warming gift if you will." He handed the bag to Tommy.

Tommy grabbed the bag, looked inside and his eyes widened.

"On second thought, I don't think we'll need as big a hunting crew today. You and Ellie have the day off." Tommy said.

Joel laughed and shook his head. "Fine by me baby brother."

The three of them went through the doors and Tommy made sure the doors were securely shut.

"I'm going to talk with Ed here, make the arrangements so he can stay here. You head on home, Joel."

"Alright."

After a short walk, Joel made it home. He opened the door and found Ellie and Maria sitting on the couch. Ellie was reading a comic while Maria sat beside her, braiding her hair.

Ellie looked up from her comics and smiled. "Hey Joel." Ellie beamed.

"Morning Joel." Maria said. "How was the night shift?"

"Not bad. Things were pretty uneventful…" Joel didn't mean for that sentence to trail off. Last night was fairly eventful. "…so I got some time to think about some things." Joel quickly finished.

"Everything alright?" Maria asked, catching the weird behavior.

"Everything's fine." Joel responded.

Maria opened her mouth to say something else but was interrupted.

"Maria?" Tommy's voice broke through Maria's walkie-talkie.

"Yeah Tommy?"

"Mind coming over here? We got a newcomer wanting to settle down here."

"Sure. Let me just finish up with Ellie here and I'll be right over."

She put the walkie-talkie down and finished Ellie's braid. Once she was done, she took a rubber band and wrapped it around the end so the braid would hold.

"Alright done!" Maria said. "Go take a look."

Ellie stood up and went to the upstairs bathroom to look in the mirror.

"Whoa!" Ellie loudly exclaimed. "It looks so fucking cool!"

Maria and Joel chuckled.

"How's my brother in law doing?" Maria softly punched Joel's arm.

"Got no complaints." Joel drawled.

"So you took the night shift. Mind telling me what you were up to?"

"Just working on a little surprise for Ellie."

"Ah, gotcha." Maria decided to leave it at that. "Well I best be on my way. Have a nice day Joel."

"You too, ma'am."

"When are you going to stop calling me ma'am?" Maria asked with a slight smile.

"When you stop scaring me." Joel joked.

Maria laughed as she opened the door and left.

Ellie came back down the stairs.

"Never thought a braid would suit you so well." Joel mused, admiring Maria's handy work.

"It's like Lara Croft!"

Now there was a pleasant surprise. "How the hell do you know about Tomb Raider?"

"Maria. She had this whole stash of comics and she just gave them to me. This Lara is such a fucking badass!"

"That she is." Joel laughed. "Well we got the day off. You seem to have your day all figured out." Joel remarked pointing at the large box filled with comics, earning a laugh from Ellie.

"I got some stuff to care of myself so I'll be upstairs if you need me."

"Okay." Ellie almost skipped back to the couch to resume her readings. Joel went upstairs and to his bedroom, closing the door behind him. He tilted his head in confusion as there was a strange case sitting on his bed. He opened the case and his jaw dropped.

It was his guitar, the one he had all those years ago back in Texas. By how it shined in the light, it looked brand new. In the corner there was a folded note. Joel took it out, opened it up and read it.

_When I went back to Texas, this was one of the things I couldn't leave behind. Got some of my boys to spruce it up and repair it for you. When I found it, it definitely looked like it saw better days._

_And don't ever think your dear little brother can't put 2 and 2 together ;) Good luck. -Tommy_

Joel laughed and took the refurbished guitar out of the case. He removed his shoes and sat on the bed. He reached into his bag and pulled out his notebook and pencil, and began tuning his guitar.

* * *

References, references everywhere XD

First chapter got some pretty good feedback which makes me so happy =D Thanks to all who reviewed, favorited, and alerted =)

Thank you for reading and please leave a review =)


	3. Parent Talk

Chapter 3: Parent Talk

Joel looked up and noticed a good chunk of the day has gone by, possibly approaching evening time. Unless she went off on her to get food from the nearby diner on her own (which is fairly unlikely) Ellie must be starving.

He got off the bed and put his shoes back on. He kept his pistol tucked in the back of his pants and made his way downstairs.

"Hey Ellie, you hungry?"

No answer.

Joel went to the couch and found Ellie completely knocked out, the comic book covering her face. He laughed softly and removed the comic book from her face.

Ellie immediately woke up, no longer feeling the encased warmth created by the comic book. "Hey, I was reading that." She said groggily.

"Sure you were kiddo." Joel said. "Come on, let's get some dinner."

"I'm starving." Ellie said. Joel suspected as much. "Any idea what we're having?"

"Not a clue. It's a surprise every night." Joel responded, grabbing a black jacket. Ellie did the same grabbing a red jacket.

Once they were dressed warmly, they walked out of the house and to the settlement's diner.

While Joel was upstairs he thought about the situation at hand. Ellie's father, someone she thought she never had, was back. And by the sounds of it, it sounded like Ed wanted to be in her life.

That made Joel anxious.

Even though Joel as grown to become Ellie's surrogate father (if not a second father altogether), having the actual father there could reduce him to being just a friend, at best.

And that meant losing her.

He's lied to her once but lying to her about this?

This could guarantee losing her for good.

He shook his head of these thoughts as they arrived at the diner. They walked inside, the aroma of what was undoubtedly good food hit their noses. They made their way to the serving area.

"Evening Joel, Ellie." Greg Martini, the server, greeted them. Despite his otherwise frightening appearance, he was a very nice man. He was in his late thirties, tall, about a hair taller than Joel, and has a more heavyset frame. His skin is tan, has piercing hazel eyes, short black hair, and the shape of his eyebrows always made him seem like he was in a sour mood. But he was the exact opposite.

He came from Seattle, Washington, home to one of the strictest and toughest quarantine zones in the country. After dealing with the horror that was Seattle for years, Greg made his move to brave the outside world. What was outside possibly couldn't compare to the horror within these quarantined walls.

He thought he'd been proven wrong. He walked the thin line of survival for at least three years until he found this settlement.

And just like with everyone else, he got a second chance at life.

"Hey Greg, what's for dinner tonight?" Ellie asked.

"Mashed potatoes with gravy and corn on the cob on the side. Hunting group and the new guy brought in some good deer meat earlier today. New guy did a real wonder cooking it too." Greg said. "Hey Eddy! We need two more up here!"

Joel's eyes widened. This was about to become _very_ awkward.

Ed came out of the kitchen with two more cooked pieces of meat. He looked up and saw Joel…and Ellie.

"Holy shit." Ed whispered.

"You alright there, Eddy?" Greg asked.

Eddy shook himself out of stunned state and brought the meat. "Uh everything's good." Ed quickly walked back to the kitchen area.

"What's up with that guy?" Ellie asked.

Joel just shrugged his shoulders.

"Here you go." Greg handed two plates with mashed potatoes and gravy to Joel and Ellie. "Corn on the cob and bread are further down the line. Also got some lemonade as the special refreshment tonight. Eat up." Greg said with a smile.

"Thanks Greg." Joel said.

Joel and Ellie got their sides (Joel got corn while Ellie took bread and corn) walked over to the refreshments area and each got a glass of fresh lemonade. They went to a small booth, sitting across from each other.

Ellie took a sip of her lemonade. "What did Greg call this? Lemonade?"

"Yep. First time drinking it?"

"I've had it before back in the Boston QZ, but it tasted like sweetened water above anything." Ellie took another sip. "This may have restored my faith in lemonade."

"Cheers then." Joel raised his glass and they both clinked their glasses, each of them taking a sip.

After some time, they finished off the meat and mashed potatoes. Joel was finishing up on his corn while Ellie just began hers.

As Joel ate he contemplated how he could broach this topic. He was grateful that Ed didn't just implode upon seeing Ellie. But there will come a time where they'll have to cross this bridge. The question was: should they let time control this event or should they accelerate it?

This might be a good spot to start…

"Hey, Ellie? Can I ask you something?"

"Sure." Ellie bit into another part of the corn, savoring its sweet taste. "What's up?"

"Do you know what happened to your parents?"

"To quote you, that's some mighty thin ice there." Ellie chuckled. "Um, as far as Marlene told me, she told me my mom died after I was born. Her name was Anna. They were close friends and Anna asked Marlene to look after me."

"What about your dad?"

"Marlene told me he was somewhere between these two places: New York and New Jersey. But he wasn't around much. Probably doesn't know I exist. Maybe dead for all I know" Ellie sighed, putting her corn down.

"Any clue what he looks like? Or your mom? Like a photo?"

"Marlene told me I have more of my mom's looks, but that I have my dad's eyes."

Joel nodded. Perhaps Ellie was a perfect mix of her parents, maybe not. She was almost the splitting image of Ed.

"Where is this coming from, exactly?" Ellie picked up her corn again and began nibbling at it.

"Just curious." Joel asked, taking the final sip of his lemonade.

"What about you? What were your parents like?" Ellie asked.

"I picked up most of my mom's looks but I had most of my dad's personality."

"So he was an asshole just like you?" Ellie smirked.

"He had his moments." Joel laughed. "My mom was a sweet woman, heart of gold. Would do anything for her family. Ahhh, she was a great cook too." Joel leaned back in his chair and rubbed his full stomach. "My dad was a bit of a hard ass but he still cared about his family. Very protective too."

"What happened to them?" Ellie asked. "Or is that thin ice too?"

"No, no it's okay." Joel said. "Shortly after I had Sarah the both of them were killed in a car crash. My mom died instantly but they got my dad out. But while though were doing X-rays his heart gave out."

"I'm sorry Joel."

"It's quite alright. Helps to talk about it a bit."

"Think you'll tell me more about Sarah one day?" Ellie asked.

Opportunity.

"How about this?" Joel began. "You tell me about what happened during the winter, and don't skip any details about that fella you were hacking away at too. In turn, I'll tell you more about Sarah."

Ellie sighed as she put her corn down. She had a somber look in her eyes as she thought back to that fateful winter. The time she truly got a taste of how low humanity had fallen. She began to see why Joel lied…

"Fine." Ellie spoke up. "But I tell you when I'm ready. You can't force it out of me."

"I'll wait an eternity if I have to, baby girl."

Ellie's eyes widened at the nickname. "When did you start calling me that?" She asked softly.

Oh. She must have not heard him say it back at the restaurant.

Awkward.

"Uh…after I found you in that inferno." Joel sheepishly scratched the back of his head. "Bad?"

"No…no it's nice." Ellie gave a small smile. Maybe she could try something… "Better than the other nickname I got for a while." Ellie breathed out a shaky breath.

"_On her own time."_ Joel thought to himself.

"Little rabbit…." Ellie whispered.

An innocent enough nickname, but Joel could tell it had a negative, if not disturbing connotation.

"I hate to break up such a heart-warming conversation. Really I do." Greg interjected, wiping at tears threatening to fall out of his eyes. "But the diner's closing down for the night."

"Oh, sorry about that." Joel said.

"It's quite alright. I'll take those." Joel and Ellie handed their empty plates, utensils, and empty glasses to Greg who placed them a large box to be cleaned.

"You both have a good night." Greg waved at them and went to the kitchen to clean the dishes. Joel looked back in the kitchen and spotted Ed. He was packing away the leftovers to be distributed later.

"Ellie, can you wait here? I've got to talk to the new guy."

"Sure."

Ellie had snuck her comic in her jacket so she pulled it to pick up where she left off.

Joel made his way into the kitchen.

"Ed."

Ed looked up and smiled at Joel.

"Evening Joel. How'd you like the food?"

"That was some top notch food, Ed. Surprised Tommy let you on kitchen duty so quickly."

"He let slip that he needed a new cook to cover the evening shift, feeling bad that Greg had to man the grill and serve the folks at what was the more busier times of the day. I offered and he accepted." Ed said. "But I feel that you didn't just come to offer compliments to the chef."

"Yeah, I was wondering how you were going to handle that situation there." Joel pointed at Ellie who was completely oblivious to the attention being paid to her, completely absorbed in her comic.

"I mean, I guess I'll have to face the music one of these days. With how strikingly similar we look, people will no doubt talk. Even the least observant person could figure this out." Ed said. "I'm just scared, you know? Girl thought she didn't have a father for her entire life then all of a sudden I come running in to prove her wrong."

"Well according to basic biology, she KNOWS she had to have a father. From what she told me, she just thought you were dead, on account on the state of the world we live in."

"True." Another thought struck Ed. "But she has you. What would she need me for?"

"I think we should leave that up to her to decide." Joel responded.

"Yeah you're right. But it's still nerve wracking. I didn't even know Anna was pregnant. If I knew, maybe things would have been…different."

"When did you find out?" Joel asked.

"Marlene told me when Anna died and that the day before, she gave birth to a baby girl named Ellie. But I was so absorbed in my work. I was closing in on a cure for all of this. I just couldn't drop everything and go to Boston." Ed kicked the stove. "Stupid."

"Well what matters know is that you're here now. I don't think she holds anything negative against you. What could go wrong?"

"Now what I've learned over the years is that the answer to that very question is that everything could go wrong." Ed laughed. "But you're right. Not like she'd be quick to stab me right?"

"I'll be there as extra insurance." Joel winked and tapped Ed's arm.

"Hmm, my guardian angel." Ed crossed his arms in amusement.

"There's no such thing." Joel responded.

"I beg to differ." He pointed at Ellie.

Joel laughed. "What are your living arrangements, if any?"

"I'm staying with Tommy and Maria for a while. He has an empty house for me but it just needs some refurbishing. I'm going to head over there tomorrow to give them a hand."

"You are not a man who likes to sit down are you?" Joel remarked. "Why couldn't Ellie pick that up from you?"

"It'll show up, one of these days I'm sure."

Joel laughed. "Night, Ed."

"Night Joel."

Joel left the kitchen and went back to Ellie. "Let's go kiddo. You got school tomorrow."

Ellie groaned but got up to leave with Joel.

Ed watched as Joel and Ellie walked out of the diner.

"Not to be nosy, but did I hear that correctly?" Ed turned to Greg who stood there wide-eyed. He didn't even notice when Greg had walked in.

"That girl's your daughter?" He asked.

"Yeah…"

"I thought it was just my old age affecting my eyesight. You two look a lot alike. Almost twins."

"I hear that, and you're only 39. Give yourself some credit." Ed brought his hand to rest on the counter.

"It's the year of the dog. Not that young in dog years." Greg replied, placing the dirty dishes in the sink to wash.

Ed quickly did the math in his eyes and rolled his eyes in amusement. "Hey, do you mind keeping this fact under wraps for a bit? Don't want things circulating then her hearing it from someone else."

"It's like I never heard it." Greg said. "You head on home, I'll finish up things here."

"You sure?"

"It's your first night here, please. Go get yourself settled in and I'll see you here tomorrow for the evening shift?"

"You got it." Ed responded. "Have a good night."

"You too." Ed walked out of the diner and into the cool spring evening. The sun was going down, painting the sky in a beautiful blend of orange, pink, and yellow. He couldn't help but smile.

What's really the worst that could happen?

* * *

Hilariously enough this chapter was supposed to end on a bit of a sour/disturbing note. I scrapped that and said maybe save it for next chapter. Most likely scrapping that too. Let's keep the good feels going! =D

Thanks for reading and please review =)


	4. More Like Us

Chapter 4: More Like Us

Another two weeks had gone by and Joel saw no change between Ed and Ellie. He wasn't expecting for Ed to just come and say that he's her father but he should at least try to get to know her. Everyone in the settlement knew everyone. Everyone weren't necessarily the best of friends with each other but everyone knew of and watched out for one another. They were one big family.

But so far for the two of them, every meet has been met with very few words and left with lingering awkwardness in the air.

Joel was going to change that.

Today, Joel, Ellie, and three others, Ryker, Baron, and Lester were going out hunting in the northern part of the settlement; one of the more difficult areas to hunt. Joel knew that Ed was a very capable hunter and would be a valuable asset, but this would also be the chance for him and Ellie to bond a bit. See how they interact.

The five of them were gathered at the northern gates going over their equipment.

Like Joel and Tommy, Lester Dime was from Austin, Texas and was actually a good friend of Tommy. He is 45 years old, has dark brown eyes, and a thick beard. He stands at an impressive height of exactly 6 feet.

Instead of leaving, Lester stayed in Austin and braved things out with his wife. But while he and his wife were out gathering supplies they got swarmed by a hoard of infected. He could do nothing as he watched the horrifying sight of his wife's jaw being torn apart by a bloater.

Months later, when Tommy returned to Austin, the two reunited and Tommy offered him a place of residence. A second chance. Lester graciously accepted.

Lester's weapon of choice was an El Diablo and a special shotgun. It belonged to his wife.

Ryker Bayette was a boy who kept to himself. He comes from St. Paul, Minnesota. Like Ellie, he was born during the outbreak, currently 17 years old. He is 5'7", has a thin yet muscular frame, hazel eyes, tan skin, and long black hair that's kept in a neat ponytail.

Ryker and his mother Judith managed to stumble upon Tommy's settlement after wandering the country for several years, getting themselves in and out of sticky situations. From a young age, Ryker was taught how to shoot a gun &amp; rifle, and was also taught several hand to hand combat techniques, courtesy of his mother. His aim with a rifle is impeccable.

Ryker and Ellie got along fairly well, developing a close friendship in almost no time. He tends to be more open when he's around her.

But Joel is always wary.

Baron North is a very quiet man, coming a long ways from Eastport, Maine. Not much is known about his past, being just six years old when the outbreak occurred. But what he must have gone through must have been traumatizing, since he doesn't speak much, if not at all. His presence is almost forgotten at times.

He is currently 26 years old, stands at 5'10, has blue eyes, and short, brunette hair. He has a muscular frame but isn't overly bulky. He has a noticeable scar running across his face, but the story of that is unknown as well. Judging by the size and angle, many speculated that it may have come from a knife, or even a machete or hatchet during an encounter with a hunter or bandit.

His weapon of choice was a bow and arrow. The added scope made his shots more accurate and deadly.

"We all good to go?" Lester asked the group.

"Yeah." Ryker answered, securing his bag on his back.

"Let's do this." Ellie said, tucking her bow and arrows away.

"Hold on, Ed's on his way here." Joel said.

"Ah the new guy. Sure he won't hold us back, Joel?" Lester asked.

"Trust me he's good. Don't know how he does it, but I don't think he's ever let his target slip by."

"That still needs to be seen. We're hunting in one of the more difficult areas today. Not too many groups have been successful up here."

"Don't forget we have Ryker." Ellie spoke up. "Just point him in the right direction and he can take care of it."

Ryker blushed, looked down and rubbed the back of his neck in slight embarrassment.

"What about you Baron? Think we'll do good today?" Lester asked.

Baron stared blankly at him for a moment and then shrugged his shoulders.

"Right…" Lester muttered.

After a few minutes, Ed had finally arrived at the northern gates.

"Sorry I'm late, Greg needed a little help with the breakfast shift." Ed said.

"It's no problem at all." Lester said. "If we're all set, let's get a move on."

Lester went to the gates and opened them up. One by one they all walked out of the gates, Joel being the last one, tasked with making sure the doors were sealed shut behind them.

"Joel?" Ed whispered. "You didn't tell me Ellie was going to be on this trip."

"That's the point." Joel responded. "You've been avoiding her like the infected these past two weeks."

"I just get nervous around her…"

"Ed-"

"Yeah, you're right. I just need to man up. What was that you asked? What could possibly go wrong?"

Joel clapped him on the shoulder. "There you go."

**~T~L~O~U~**

The group laid low and quiet, not wanting to scare anything away. Lester and Joel had the most acute hearing so they led the group while Ellie, Ed, Ryker, and Baron stayed in the back. Along the way, they managed to catch some rabbits, courtesy of Baron's quick shots.

Ellie, Joel, and Lester also managed to hunt down some deer.

What was more impressive was that Ed had also managed to successfully hunt down a goat, a rare catch.

Today, luck was definitely on their sides.

"We're in luck men and little lady." Lester whispered to the group. "We got quite big one up ahead.

The six of them huddled behind a large boulder.

Not terribly far away from them was an Elk grazing.

"You're up son." Lester said to Ryker.

Ryker nodded and pulled out his rifle. He made sure there was ammunition and peered up from behind the boulder.

"Whoo-whoo-whoo." Ellie cheered on. The Elk looked up at the sound (Ryker ducked back down) but ignored it and continued to graze.

Ryker peered up again and lined up his shot. A direct shot to the chest should do it.

Once Ryker lined up his shot, he fired and scored a direct hit.

The Elk staggered but instead of dropping dead, it ran off.

"Fuck." Ryker muttered. Either he had missed for the first time since he was a child or the Elk had a chest of steel.

Either way, he felt like he had failed.

"That's alright, son." Lester squeezed Ryker's shoulder in reassurance. "Figured an animal of that size wouldn't go down so easily."

Ryker nodded, feeling slightly better.

"You managed to hit it, so it'll leave us a trail of blood for us to follow." Lester said.

They followed the blood trail which led them further up north. They spotted the Elk grazing once more.

"Hey, Ed, why don't you give this a shot?" Ryker said.

All eyes went to Ed. "Uh sure, I'll give it my best." Then he looked to Ellie. An idea crossed his mind.

The worst answer he could get is no…

"Hey…Ellie. You're pretty good with a bow and arrow too. Want to give me a hand?" Ed asked tentatively.

"Sure…Ed was it?" Ellie asked, pulling a bow and arrow out.

"Yes ma'am." Ed responded happily "Let's do this."

"Let's kick some ass."

Both of them drew their bows and took aim.

"You're aiming for the head?" Ellie asked.

"Yep, you're aiming for its chest?"

"You know it."

Joel couldn't help but smile at the sight. A father and daughter, side by side, hunting.

Once the two of them lined up their shots, they fired their arrows. Ellie's arrow landed in the same spot where Ryker's bullet had hit. Ed's shot hit the elk directly in its eye. The arrow was still wedged in its socket as it ran off once more.

"God damn! That sucker was lodged right in there!" Lester exclaimed. "It's still not going down."

"Then the next shot should be the last one then." Joel said.

The group nodded and they followed the blood trail once more.

Even further up north and slightly to the west, they found the Elk grazing once more.

"I think I'm going to use Ed's idea. There's no way it could survive bullets in each of its eyes." Ryker said.

"Go for it." Joel said.

"Alright, Ryker, he's teetering. Bring this on home and let everyone eat happy tonight!" Lester silently cheered on.

Ryker gave a thumbs and went to climb up a tree. If this was to work he would need a better vantage point. He sat perched on a tree branch and pulled out his rifle.

"Alright…" Ryker whispered. He raised his rifle and aimed at the elk's other eye. He fired and the bullet landed as intended, with a more positive result.

"Fuck yeah!" Ellie exclaimed. The Elk finally dropped dead.

"That's some good shooting there, son." Lester said.

Ryker smiled and made to get down, but his smile immediately dropped as he heard a dreadfully familiar sound approaching. Fast. He immediately looked to the distance and the sight confirmed his fears.

"What's wrong Ryker?" Lester asked.

"We've got infected!" Ryker exclaimed.

"They must have heard the gun fire." Joel said.

"How many Ryker?" Ellie asked.

"Uh…ten of them at the very least. Likely more." Ryker said. "Two stalkers, four runners, and I think six clickers."

"Alright, you stay up there and cover us. We can't let them get too close to the town." Joel said.

"Aye-aye." Ryker was already loading up more ammunition into his rifle.

Like a swarm of angry bees, the infected descended on the group.

The fight for survival was on.

As Ryker fired he noticed a larger figure approaching. Far too large to be a clicker or even a regular human being.

_Fuck_.

"Even better news! We got a bloater incoming!" Ryker said. "I'll do the best I can before it gets here. You guys focus on the others." Ryker turned his attention to the bloater that was quickly approaching. He fired five quick shots into the bloater but it showed no signs of slowing down.

"Son of a bitch, go down!" He muttered. He reloaded his rifle and kept firing.

Below him, the group did their very best trying to take down the rest of the infected and as quickly as they could should Ryker be unsuccessful with taking down the bloater.

Ellie managed to take down two clickers with her switchblade and was in a slight struggle with a stalker. But with time, she managed to take that one down as well.

Ryker couldn't help but admire the sight. Ellie was the strongest woman he had ever seen during this outbreak, right behind his mother. But in his gazing he failed to notice the branch beginning to succumb under his weight. The branch snapped under him and Ryker snapped back to reality as he fell.

He fell on his back, knocking the wind out of him. The bloater did not waste any time to attack.

"No, no, no." Ryker did his best to keep the bloater off, but the bloater was just too strong. The bloater was closing in on his neck when -_**BANG**__-_ the bloater went limp. Ryker quickly pushed it off to the side.

Ryker looked over and saw Ellie holding his rifle, smoke coming out of barrel.

Ellie put down the rifle and offered her hand to him. Ryker smiled and grabbed it and pulled himself up.

"Thanks." Ryker said.

"Anytime." Ellie handed the rifle back to Ryker.

It appeared that they were in the clear when…

"Holy shit." Baron said softly.

Once the group got over the initial shock of words escaping Baron's mouth, as profane as they were, they soon found the reason behind his exclamation.

A clicker had latched onto Ed's right collarbone. Ed let out a pained scream but with his other arm, he reached behind him and pulled out his machete. He knocked the clicker off his shoulder with the butt of the machete, causing it to fall on the ground. He then finished off the clicker by plunging the machete into the clicker's head, splattering pieces of its head. When he went to remove it, the blade detached from the handle.

"Damn. And that was my favorite machete too." Ed said.

He looked up and saw several pairs of sad eyes on him.

"What?" Ed asked, confused as to why everyone was staring at him all of a sudden. "Oh this?" Ed pointed to the bite mark on his collarbone. He laughed a bit.

"Oh this is nothing. I already have two others. So-"

"Did I hear that fucking correctly?" Ellie said. "You've been bit _two_ other times and you're fungus free?"

"I can't freaking believe it." Joel muttered. Just when he though Ed and Ellie couldn't be any more similar.

"Yeah, I can even show you." He bent down and rolled up his pant leg. "I got this back in '16." He stood back up. "And I have this one on my left shoulder that I got in '28."

"How is this possible?" Ryker asked. "You're supposed to turn within 48 hours."

"It's possible." Baron spoke up again. His voice was soft and almost hard to hear. Possibly from years of under use. He pointed to the mysterious scar on his face. "I got this when I was thirteen. Stalker got me right across the face with its hand. I never turned."

Joel couldn't believe his ears. His lie was becoming more and more like a definite truth rather than a farfetched one.

"Well we got over twenty words out of Baron today. I'd say it's been a good day." Lester joked. Everyone else laughed, including Baron.

"Alright, let's s grab this fella and head on back."

Ed and Ryker silently volunteered to carry the Elk back to the settlement.

"I like Ed." Ellie said to Joel.

"That a fact?" Joel crossed his arms.

"Yeah. He's pretty badass and he's like me." Ellie rubbed her bite mark through her sleeve.

"In more ways than you may ever know." Joel whispered.

"What was that?"

"Oh nothing. Let's head back so you can finish up on that comic of yours."

"Hell yeah! I think I left off on a really good part too."

Joel laughed and placed a hand on her shoulder, holding her close.

Unbeknownst to them, Ed watched their entire interaction. He felt a slight pang of jealousy that it wasn't him interacting like that with Ellie. But being able to hunt with her was exhilarating. He had to thank Joel later for including him on this trip.

It was a step in the right direction.

* * *

Good feels, let the good feels keep on going =D

Thanks for reading and please review =)


	5. The Unshared Past

Chapter 5: The Unshared Past

That hunting trip was the beginning of good things to come.

Since that day the relationship between Ed and Ellie strengthened immensely. When Joel or Ryker wasn't with Ellie, she was with Ed. Eventually Ellie even opened up and revealed the bite mark of her own to Ed.

He cried himself to sleep that night. Several tears for sadness and regret, but a single tear was shed of slight jubilee. If there was any doubt that they were related, sharing a genetic mutation may have effectively eliminated that doubt.

The two of them could talk for hours when they had no other obligations to meet. They would talk about the comics Ellie liked to read, Ed would give her more insight on what life was like before the outbreak (which stemmed into more comedic conversations more often than not), and they would share some of their craziest survival stories.

But some things were never shared.

The past.

There were a few choice things Ellie skipped over but especially in Ed's case, he had to pick his words very carefully. He couldn't let slip of who he was, what he did, and most importantly, who he _used_ to be.

Revealing that they were blood would be come and go.

But other things could undoubtedly cause a rift.

**~T~L~O~U~**

Joel and Ed had afternoon guard duty at the eastern gates today. They took down a few infected that were too close to the settlement for comfort, them being mostly runners. But other than that, this sunny and cool mid-May day was serene.

"You and Ellie are getting pretty close." Joel remarked.

"She is a remarkable young lady. She's so mature for her age but she has her quirks that remind me that she's still a young one." Ed replied.

"Yeah that sounds about right." Joel said. "When do you plan on spilling the beans?"

"One of these days, for sure. The more we talk, the more we open up about what's really in our hearts and minds. But…"

"But…?"

"There are just some things I just can't bring myself to say. She asks me certain things and it's like getting shot. I feel bad keeping it from her but…I'm just not ready."

"Look we've all got our fair share of things we prefer to keep in the past." Joel looked down and rubbed his broken watch softly.

Ed caught his action. "I could take a look at that broken watch for you, if you'd like?"

"Nah, it's quite alright." Joel responded.

Ed nodded. "We've all got skeletons."

"Now you're getting it." Joel responded.

**~T~L~O~U~**

The next day, Joel and Ellie had come from a long and busy day that concluded with a delicious dinner and a town meeting.

"That Ed guy is interesting." Ellie said.

"That so?"

"Yeah, he and I have a lot in common."

"Lord Almighty..." Joel muttered as he sat on the couch.

"But…"

Joel raised a brow. "What's up?"

"As awesome as he is, something about him just seems…I don't know…shady."

"How so?"

Ellie sat on the table in front of Joel.

"Every time I ask him about specific stuff in his past, his answers are really half assed and vague."

"Well maybe he has some things he don't feel ready to part with yet." Joel responded. "There are still some questions you ask me that I don't answer."

"Yeah, you dance around them like a graceful ballerina."

Joel chuckled at her analogy. School was definitely making her wittier.

Ellie stood up from the table and sat down on the couch next to Joel.

"But him…his dance is a bit more…unrefined."

"And you said school wasn't doing you any good."

"Oh please, one use of advanced vocabulary doesn't prove the worth of this so called education system."

"I wouldn't count it out yet. I don't think I've ever heard a sentence that articulate outta you before you started school.

Ellie threw a cushion at Joel's head but he caught it before it could reach his face.

"But one thing that really threw me off was when we were on a nature walk outside the settlement."

"What happened?"

"We were sitting by the river just talking about the usual and skipping rocks. Then I noticed he has this green necklace with a strangely shaped pendant."

Joel remained silent, prompting Ellie to continue.

"Naturally, I ask him about it and… he freaks out. Like his eyes nearly bug out of his head and his hand literally flew to his necklace."

"Did he say anything about it?"

"He just said it was a gift from someone." Ellie paused in thought. "A rogue noise sidetracked us but it turned out to be someone from the settlement out gathering berries for the next day's breakfast." Ellie said. "Then he says we should start heading back to the settlement. He abruptly stands up and begins walking. I got up and started walking after him but I stepped on something metallic. I look down and realize that it's his necklace."

"That very same one?"

"Yeah."

"Did you take it?"

"Yeah, I have it in my room." Ellie stood up and quickly went upstairs. After a few moments, she returned with the necklace in her hand.

"Here."

Joel took it and looked at it. The chain itself was a bit rusty but in good shape nonetheless. It had a standard clasp but it was broken, probably from Ed yanking it off his neck. He then switched his attention to the mysterious pendant. It was oddly shaped but Joel knows he's seen this shape before.

"Hmm, I can't make out the shape of it.

"Flip it over; something's been scratched out."

Joel flipped it over and saw the scratch marks.

"You see? If it was a gift, why would he just abandon it like that?"

"I'll admit it is weird, but we all have skeletons in our closets. Ed is a good guy but probably just has a troubled past."

"You know I've never understood what that phrase meant. _'Skeletons in our closets' _"Ellie made air quotes. "Care to explain?"

"That's what school's for, kiddo."

Ellie scoffed and rolled her eyes.

Joel handed the necklace back to Ellie who then placed it on the table in front of them.

"So, new topic." Ellie said after a brief moment of silence. "Are you excited about the bar they're planning on bringing up?"

At the town meeting, Tommy and Maria announced that they're using one of the larger buildings found on the settlement to turn into a bar of sorts. There would be food, drinks, a stage for any performances anyone wanted to do, and even a place for the much younger members of the settlement. The construction project would take a good month, two maximum, depending on how many people sign up to help out.

"Yeah, I haven't had a good drink in ages." Joel said.

"Are you signing up to do the construction work?"

"Yeah I used to be a carpenter back in the day. Figured I'd go back to my roots."

"Bring you back?" Ellie asked.

"Yeah, being a carpenter was good job. It was hard work but it ensured a roof over our heads and fresh bread on the table."

"And helped with taking care of Sarah?"

"Yeah. Yeah it did." Joel said. Those were rough days, but worth it.

"You thinking of signing up?" Joel asked. "They could use some younger ones too."

"Pshh. Fuck that."

Joel laughed out loud, confusing Ellie.

"I give you one opportunity to get out of school and you turn it down."

"Please, this type of job is what you old geezers are for." Ellie maneuvered herself on the couch so she could rest her head in Joel's lap.

Joel playfully flicked her forehead.

"Ow." Ellie rubbed her forehead to soothe the slight sting.

"Good."

A comfortable silence fell between them to the point where Joel was close to nodding off completely.

"Joel?" Ellie's voice brought him right back to consciousness.

"What?"

"What was your marriage like?"

"Too soon." Joel replied softly.

"Too soon." Ellie repeated.

Silence once more.

"His name was David."

Joel gently undid her pony tail and ran his fingers through her hair in an attempt to comfort her. She leaned into the motions feeling all tension leave her, letting pure relaxation take over.

"Mmm, keep doing that. I think that makes me sleepy." Ellie muttered, her eyes already beginning to shut.

Joel continued, the action relaxing him as well.

"Sarah was the same." Joel said.

No response. Ellie was already more than halfway asleep.

Joel gently grabbed Ellie and he moved to lie on his back on the couch, letting Ellie rest fully on top of him. He held her close.

Joel moved the stray pieces of hair from her face and kissed her forehead. "Good night, baby girl."

Unknown to them, Ed was standing outside their home watching their entire interaction through the window. He originally came over to ask if Joel and Ellie were signing up for the construction project but he got sidetracked by watching them.

As he watched, he couldn't help but wonder if it was too late for him. Despite them growing close, it's clear that Ellie already has a father figure in her life. Does she really need him? Would it make a difference telling her?

Just may wind up being another piece of his unshared past.

**~T~L~O~U~**

Two days later, Ed and Ellie had nothing to do for the rest of the day so they were at the diner having lunch. Today's special was hamburgers and fries and fruit punch as the refreshment.

"So you were a firefly?" Ellie asked.

"Yes ma'am." Ed responded. "They called me King Firefly, for some reason or another."

"So you and Marlene were like the leaders?"

"You got it."

"So fucking cool." Ellie said softly. "So is there anything special you did while in the fireflies?"

"Nah, not really." Ed took a swig of his fruit punch.

"Oh come on, spill!" Ellie said.

Ed smiled. What did he have to lose?

"Alright, since you asked so nicely." Ed said. "In the firefly's earlier years, I was overlooking this project to find some sort of cure for the CBI."

"You're totally fucking with me."

"No, no. I'm being honest. We were up in Long Island and close to cracking it but in 2022, the military stormed in and set fire to the place. All our work went up in flames. Poor guys didn't make it out."

"But you got out."

"That I did."

"Did you go back to the fireflies?"

"Kinda went AWOL after that. Didn't matter anyway, they all presumed me dead."

"So what did you do then?"

Another dangerous question.

"Just…roaming the country. I went wherever my feet would take me."

"What was that like?"

"Every day was something new." Ed said. "Never boring that's for sure."

Ellie nodded. At least it wasn't as vague as the other answers she normally got.

"You and Joel have been on the quite the adventure, haven't you?"

"Yeah, it's been a crazy ride."

"How'd y'all meet? Far as I can tell, you two aren't related."

"Yeah I was originally cargo."

Ed half choked on his fruit punch. "Pardon?"

"Well." Ellie leaned. "You know how I'm immune right?" She whispered.

"Yeah."

"Well the fireflies I guess wanted to finish what you started so I was pretty important. They were going to use me to find some sort of cure."

Ed raised a brow. All of his work was gone and he, the source, was presumed dead. How were they going to carry this out?

"So Joel was tasked with smuggling me out of Boston and meet up with the fireflies that at a placed called the Capitol Building. But when we got there, the fireflies were dead. So we kept going westwards and ended up at UEC. Same deal, no sign of fireflies. Joel said he killed off a bloater that had a firefly pendant so I think you can guess what went down there."

Ed nodded. It seemed that all things would always end up this way.

"Eventually, we arrived at St. Mary's hospital in Salt Lake City."

"And?" There had to be more to that story.

"On the way, I nearly drowned. But when I woke up, I was in the backseat of a car and Joel was driving us away from Salt Lake."

"That doesn't make sense. Something must have happened."

"I was in and out of it but I managed to hear bits and pieces. Apparently they had to kill me to make the vaccine.

"What? That's absurd! They didn't have to do-" Ed cut himself off, he was saying _too_ much.

Ellie shot him a suspicious look, but let it slide for now.

"Anyway…I don't think Joel was down with that. So he got me out."

"What did he tell you?"

"He told me that there were more like me that are immune. Dozens. But in his words, the ones that came before me didn't do much. No vaccine could be made, so they stopped looking for a cure. And apparently they just handed me off to him and said "Have a nice life!" or something."

Ed hummed. "Did you believe it?"

"I made him swear to me that what he said was true. But even when he swore, I still wasn't sure. But finding out about Baron's immunity and yours, makes me feel that Joel was sort of telling the truth after all."

"But you still have your doubts."

"Not so much doubt…just regret."

"What did you regret?"

"He and I have been through so much in our journey. It was shame for it all to be for nothing."

"Perhaps it wasn't all in vain. You have a new life now. A better one."

"Maybe." Ellie sighed. "I don't know sometimes. I mean I love it here. As Joel says, I'm getting a taste of the luxuries we once took advantage of before all this went down."

Ed nodded in agreement.

"And me and Joel. I don't think I've ever been this close to a person before. Not since…"

"Since what?"

"Nothing. Never mind."

A pause.

"My mom died giving birth to me and I have no clue what the fuck happened to my real dad."

Ed's heart had skipped so many beats he thought he was going into cardiac arrest.

"I basically had no family. And the pattern in my life was that anyone I grew close to had either died or left me. But now I have Joel, Tommy, and Maria. Ryker's pretty cool too."

Ed's heart sank a bit.

"And I guess you too, a little." Ellie said with a smile.

"I'm honored to have that privilege, Ellie." Ed carefully placed a hand on Ellie's. He felt her tense a bit but she immediately relaxed.

"Afternoon, Ed." Joel said.

They hadn't heard when Joel and Baron (no real shock) had walked into the diner. Baron opted to sit on his own while Joel, accompanied by Greg went to Ed and Ellie.

"Hey Joel, how are things going with the bar?"

"Looking good. Building of course needs some serious renovation but it's doable."

Ellie chuckled. "How about I let you geezers talk. I'm going to go hang with Ryker."

"Be careful Ellie." Joel said.

"Oh relax, we're just having a shoot off."

"Ellie…" Joel sternly said.

"With water guns! Relax, you'll give yourself a heart attack."

"Girl, you know you'll be the direct cause of my death." Joel said with a smile.

Ellie rolled her eyes. She got up, patted Joel on his head and walked out of the diner.

"Be home by sun down!"

Ellie waved him off.

Joel shook his head and took a seat across from Ed.

"So, hand holding. Will we be hearing a happy announcement at the end of the week?" Greg took a seat right beside Joel. He was on his lunch break and on his plate were three hamburgers and at least three servings of French fries.

Ed snorted. "We're definitely getting there. I'm trying to open up more."

"That's good. So how're you going to tell her? Are you going to be really cheesy about it? Or just be up and direct?" Greg asked.

"To be honest, I almost let it slip just now."

"What stopped you?" Joel asked, as he took a bite out of his hamburger.

"Oh just the fact that I'm a fucking pussy."

Greg laughed out loud. "Man this isn't high school where you're trying to ask a girl to prom. This is your daughter for Christ sakes!"

"Keep it down!" Ed mildly scolded.

"Look, tell you what." Joel put down his burger. "Ellie's got a half day tomorrow and account on it raining tomorrow, we aren't spending the whole day working on the bar. So why don't I pick her up and you swing on by?"

"So…tell her tomorrow?" Ed asked.

"That's right."

Ed thought it over. He worried that it may be a bit too soon but putting it off wouldn't help things much either. He's already heard people beginning to talk.

"I think I can do that."

"She already considers you family. This would just solidify it." Joel said, taking a swig of his fruit punch.

"Oh I wish I had something to document this. Not every day you get stuff like this."

"Man you're just a big softie aren't you Greg?" Ed remarked. "Has something like this happened before?"

"Once, but nothing of this caliber." Greg responded, biting into his second hamburger. "You know how Lester refers to Ryker as 'son' sometimes?"

"Yeah?"

"Turns out Ryker is his little cousin, twice removed I think." Greg said.

"I thought I saw some similarity between them." Joel said.

"Oh Lester the drunk comedian was out in full force during that time." Greg laughed. "Called the poor kid Ry-Ry and left everyone in hysterics. Kid couldn't shake that name for weeks. Even his mama ran it by him a couple of times. All in good spirits though."

"Don't let Ellie hear that one. She might not let him live that down." Ed laughed.

Joel smirked behind his burger.

"So it's settled then?" Joel asked, hiding his mischievous smirk the best he could. "Tomorrow's the big day?"

"Tomorrow's the big day." Ed restated.

Tomorrow's the big day.

* * *

Woot! =D

A guest reviewer mentioned two interesting points.

1.) Joel is cool with the interaction between Ed and Ellie but you know how jealousy can rear its ugly head and how protective Joel can be ;3  
2.) Ryker and Riley. That was unintentional. I was looking up boy names and Ryker just stood out XD But it's cool how that played out =D

Thanks for reading and please leave a review =)


	6. Common Demon

Chapter 6: Common Demon

* * *

**WARNING: Mentions of rape and sexual abuse and...well basically _The Last of Us._**

* * *

Ellie laughed out in victory in front of a completely drenched Ryker

"Boosh! I am the water gun champion!" Ellie exclaimed.

Ryker sighed in defeat. What started as best out of three had gradually turned into best out of twenty. It was a close match, both sides fighting valiantly. But Ellie got the upper hand because Ryker's tank had gone empty.

Pure luck, he thought to himself. But when he reminded himself of who he was up against, he gave it to her. She had skill.

She's most likely had practice.

"So what were the terms again?" Ryker said, trying to shake off some of the water.

"The loser has to tell a story, and with no sarcasm."

"Fine, let me dry myself off and get a change of clothes. We can take a walk."

"I'll be here." Ellie handed the water gun back to Ryker.

Ryker took both guns and brought them to his house.

After ten minutes, Ryker came out dry (his hair was still fairly wet, kept in a small bun) in a new set of clothes. He wore a blue short sleeve plaid button down shirt, the buttons completely undone, with a white tank top underneath, beige cargo shorts, and an old pair of Nike sneakers.

"So what story does the winner want to hear? Twilight?" Ryker asked.

"Twi-what?" Ellie asked.

"Never mind." Ryker chuckled. "Just some stupid story my mom read to me when I was a baby. Ridiculous really."

Ellie already knew what story she wanted to hear. It was a no brainer.

"Tell me your story. Everyone has a survival story. I want to hear yours." Ellie said.

"I was born and was taught how to kick ass as soon as I came out of the womb. Been kicking ass all my life, then I came here. The end."

"No sarcasm."

Ryker chuckled. "Who said I was being sarcastic? Come on, let's go on that walk."

"My mom, Judith, and I have been on quite the trek coming from Minnesota. Went through a lot."

"Start from the beginning." Ellie said.

"I was born on May 11th, 2017 in St. Paul, Minnesota, a quarantine zone. A tough one at that."

"Aren't they all." Ellie commented.

"Well this one was…special." Ryker said.

"How come?"

"They took child labor laws to a whole new level." Ryker responded. "Instead of placing children into military preparatory schools, at the age of 10, children would patrol the walls, the outside, essentially do all the things the military does to protect the QZ from any infected or hostile survivors. "

"Seriously?" Ellie asked.

"Yeah. They gave this shit reason of that there weren't enough soldiers for the job and they needed nimble, young people for this 'highly noble and honorable cause.' Gimme a break..." Ryker scoffed.

Ellie rolled her eyes. "Such bullshit."

"And being a boy, your chances were higher of being drafted." Ryker said. "My mom knew this and tried to keep me a secret the best she could."

"What did your mom do?"

"She played it off as just gaining a whole lot of weight, but she was found out during her eighth month. She was taken to a doctor and it was found out that she was having a boy, which she said was her gut feeling. That's what made her more determined to keep me a secret. And as punishment for keeping me a secret, I was to begin my services at eight rather than ten."

"What did she do then?" Ellie asked.

"She had no choice. So while raising me, she began training me the best she could. She taught me hand to hand combat, mainly how to use my size to my advantage. But most importantly, she taught me how to shoot a rifle."

"Like with a real rifle?" Ellie asked in shock. She wasn't able to get her hands on a real rifle until…well when she was covering Joel in Pittsburgh. It's all been BB guns until that point.

"She taught me with BB rifles. I started with the usual tin cans, bottles, and rocks. For a while, I was even became security against any infestations that wanted to get in our home. I shot at rats, cockroaches, even fruit flies."

"Damn." Ellie muttered.

"Afterwards, she started showing me with an actual rifle. It was the same basic concept but it was hard getting used to the kick. Every time I fired, I landed flat on my ass."

Ellie laughed.

"Then my eighth birthday came, and the draft notice arrived. I was to get five measly months of training before going to the outside."

"Five months? You're eight! What kind of sick fucks were these guys?"

"Then it's a good thing my mom filled in most of the blanks. All was left was the standard protocol stuff. In five months time, I was a hardened soldier. My mother's worst nightmare."

"Did you like it?"

"Fuck no. I was a terrified eight year old. I was fucking terrified." Ryker responded. "Each time I went out, I wondered if I was going to come back."

Ellie nodded her head in understanding. She would be terrified too. Hell, she'd be terrified, _now_.

"It went on for about five years. Fortunately, I only did a couple months out of the year. I started at working four months out of the year but over time, I eventually got _promoted_, as they would say, to eight months out of the year. But they were all pretty uneventful. That is until my final month."

After walking around, Ellie and Ryker opted to stay in the shade at a picnic table. Ellie sat on the table while Ryker leaned on the seat with his foot.

"I was finishing up on patrol and heading back. But this group called the fireflies attacked the QZ. According to protocol, any firefly spotted was to be shot on the spot. Course, I didn't know what that meant at the time so there were times I shot at _actual_ fireflies. Literally the insect."

Ellie laughed until she was practically in tears. Ryker shot her a look but eventually laughed with her. It was pretty funny now that he thought about it.

"So I'm pinned behind this rock, calling for backup like crazy. Soon enough all the ruckus attracted some nearby infected. As if that place weren't a war zone already."

"So the military and the fireflies stop fighting each other and join forces to take down the infected. I peer out from the boulder and see the one member of each faction in a losing struggle with clickers. I aim my rifle at those mushroom heads and take them out easy." Ryker paused. "You know that's the first time I've fired a rifle outside of practice?"

"What was it like?"

"Exhilarating. It was a rush. But at the same time, as you could probably guess, I was FUCKING terrified."

"So once the infected are taken care of the fireflies and soldiers go back to shooting each other."

"What did you do?"

"At that point I said fuck everything and retreated. Let these two idiots hash things out. No skin off my bone. Well, that's what I thought."

Ellie tilted her head in curiosity.

"Got this shiner in the midst of it." Ryker pulled back his shirt to reveal a scar on his left shoulder.

Ellie winced. Despite it being obviously old, it still looked as if he were shot yesterday.

"There was this chick on my left who began firing at me. I tried to fire back but she got a good shot in and nailed me right here. Let me tell you a thing; getting shot? Not fun."

Ellie thought back to Joel being impaled by the rebar. He technically wasn't shot but it was no less severe or brutal.

"The bullet paralyzed my left arm so I couldn't return fire with my rifle. I didn't have any pistols on me either. I had no way to fight back and she ran up to me to finish me off. But she must have realized it was a mistake to shoot me or something because she instead got me back on my feet and provided cover so that I could back into the QZ and get help."

"After that my mom decided enough was enough. Once I was released on medical leave for the rest of the year, she said we were getting out of that place. She packed up our stuff; supplies we would need, ammo, weapons, anything that would help us survive."

"You guys just up and left?"

"My mom was a smuggler so she knew all the places we could sneak out of by heart. We left that QZ behind without looking back.

"How did you two wind up here?"

"We wandered the country really. But I guess you could say we've had it easy for a while. We were able to sneak by any hunters and infected. We had more supplies than we needed sometimes." Ryker paused and looked down.

"It was going pretty well. Until we got to Colorado."

Ryker maneuvered himself to sit on the table beside Ellie.

"You don't have to…" Ellie said.

"No, I think I should get this out." Ryker said, taking a deep breath.

"It was the dead of winter. There was no way we would have been able to brave things out in the outside so we were looking for a place to settle down for a good while. While at the Lakeside Resort, we got confronted by this group of hunters. But they were different from the others."

"How?" Ellie asked.

"My mom pointed her shotgun at them and I pointed my rifle. They pointed their respective guns as well but we could somehow tell they weren't going to shoot. Then this man stepped through and said that this wasn't necessary. He reasoned that we all had a common goal; to stay alive in this brutal winter. He ordered the men to lower their weapons. They did, but we kept ours pointed."

Ryker paused.

"Some way or another, he convinced us to join them. He said that we could be of great use to the group and together they would be able to brave this winter."

"You guys joined them?"

"We weren't thinking right back then." Ryker sighed.

"So…?"

"Things were working out well at first. You know we all worked together to ensure everyone was fed, warm and in good health. We were a little community. We looked after each other."

Ryker began cracking his knuckles and the sound caused Ellie to slightly flinch.

"Then after the winter, things just took a turn for the worst. I'm still not sure but I have a hunch that my mom and I were drugged somehow. When we woke up, we were in cages. Separate cages."

"That man stepped out of the shadows and said he felt we weren't…doing our part to support this little community. Which I thought was bullshit because my mom and I did most of the hunting. We were able to bring in rabbit, elk, deer, moose, plenty of meat to go around at least three times over."

Ryker paused.

"So he says he doesn't want to release us back into the harsh world so he's going let us stay. But he was going to ensure that we begin pulling our weight." Ryker paused and took another deep breath.

"They drag my mom out of her cage. She's kicking and screaming trying to break loose. But they just laugh, hit her and say…these horrible things. What they were going to do with her."

Ellie was slowly being brought back to that dark place. The place she was in not too long ago.

"I tried to get out of the cage but it was no good. Door was locked and wrapped with a chain. No way to squeeze through the bars either."

Ryker looked at the ground, his left leg bouncing on the seat. He tried to stop the action with his hand but it would just resume once he removed his hand.

"I watched them as they…" Ryker's voice broke. "They took turns. All six of them."

"When they were done, they just dragged her out of the room. Then they turned to me."

Ellie's mouth went agape.

"They dragged me out of the cage with a butcher knife to my neck so I wouldn't try anything."

"He tried to be…sickly sentimental." Ryker rubbed at his cheek as if he were trying to remove something. "Then he gives me the job of chopping up the meat. The guy holding the butcher knife to my neck takes my hand and shoves the knife into it. About a minute later, a guy named James brings in the meat."

Ryker let out a shaky breath. "Then I found out just what my mom and I had been eating this past winter."

"Fuck…" Ellie muttered.

"Eventually my mom got pregnant by one of them. They allowed her to carry it full term. As sick as it was I was kind of happy. I was going to be a big brother. I was going to have a little brother or sister that I would be proud to defend and teach the ways of survival."

"What happened to it?"

"My mom and I got a glimpse of just how far their sick diet went."

Ellie's eyes widened and she nearly fell off the table. She started shaking immensely.

"It was a girl." Ryker's voice cracked. He wiped away at the tears that slipped out.

"My mom was broken at that point. Lost the will to live. Accepted anything that happened to her. She got pregnant two more times but both wound up being miscarriages."

"What…what were you up to?"

"I was still chopping the meat. However...he didn't like broken toys and there were no new ones in sight...for the moment."

This was far too frightening to be a coincidence. There were too many similarities. But as far as she knew, this continent was huge. _They_ couldn't be the same ones. The same_ exact_ ones. But the components were all there, it was practically staring at her right in the face. The group could the same, but could it be the same man?

She had to ask.

"By any chance…was…was his name David?"

"Don't say his name. I worked so hard to get it out of my head I'm not letting him back in!" Ryker bellowed out. He calmed immediately once he realized what he had done. "Sorry."

"It's okay." Ellie responded softly.

His reign of terror stems back further than she thought. If there was any lingering remorse for killing him, it was dead now. Just like him.

"The next winter, I sobered up and decided to look for some sort of escape. I could use the big snow storm as a cover. When I wasn't chopping the meat or doing-"

"You don't have to say that part." Ellie wasn't saying that out of disgust but out of sympathy.

"Thank you." Ryker said, wiping away another tear. "I surveyed the area. Looked for any weak spots. Areas that sometimes go unchecked or unguarded. There weren't any, per say, but with the right timing, they could be."

"Once that was settled, I made my move. I got my mom, more carried her out. During the snow storm, they were apparently doing head counts and noticed my mom and I were missing fast…"

Ellie had half an idea of what may have transpired next.

* * *

Sorry for the delay. I've had this chapter done for awhile but I'm currently playing TLOU on a new difficulty. I played easy (and easy plus) 5 times to get certain trophies and now I've moved on to Normal. It was **_very_ **difficult in the beginning (hard to believe Joel's health was THIS low) but I'm getting back into the groove so now things are getting easier, well as easy as they can get XD

And second whoopsie. This wasn't supposed to be expanded that much. This is supposed to be a tender bonding moment between Ryker and Ellie. It still is but it was supposed to be brief. I mean really. Ryker's whole ordeal with David stems into the next chapter o.O and so do the feels.

That's The Last of Us XD

Next chapter will be better, I promise :3 *hugs*

Thanks so much for reading :3 'm really glad you're all enjoying this story as much as I do writing it =D

Please review =)


	7. It's All Still With Me

Chapter 7: It's All Still With Me

"_Hang on mom. I'm just going to check out the outside, make sure the coast is clear." _

_Ryker gently placed Judith on the ground, making sure she was leaning comfortably behind a counter. She hasn't said a word this entire ordeal, staring blankly at nothing. If it weren't for the faint sounds of her breathing he would have assumed she was dead._

_Ryker kept his pistol close as he went to the door. But once he opened the door, he was shoved right back in._

"_My, my, you're easy to track!" David burst into the store. Ryker tried to shoot him but David quickly overpowered him and took the gun out of his hand. He backhanded Ryker, knocking him to the floor. David quickly turned around and locked the door to the store. He then turned and pointed his pistol at Ryker._

"_Do it!" Ryker barked out._

_David growled and grabbed Ryker by the back of his shirt and hair and pushed him harshly against a shelf._

"_You can try beggin'" He purred in his ear._

"_Or you can try pissing off." Ryker spit out._

_David growled. He forcefully threw Ryker to the floor onto his stomach and he straddled him, holding his hair firmly._

"_It doesn't have to be like this, you know." David said, rubbing Ryker's back._

"_So what now? You're going to do this again and then what? I've definitely crossed the line this time. You're going to chop me up into tiny pieces?" _

"_You know I don't wanna do that. You're special to me."_

"_So was my mother. How long until I'm thrown away like her? Wallowing in the shell of my former self?"_

"_I thought she was strong, but she wasn't strong enough. She's replaceable. But you…"_

_David harshly turned Ryker onto his back, gripping his throat tightly but not enough to choke._

"_What do I even do for you?" Ryker choked out._

"_You amaze me. You give me this new hope that I've never had before. I look into your eyes and I see this fire. You show so much strength. You're one of a kind."_

_Unbeknownst to David, Ryker was reaching for a brick. His mother taught him that if he could someone in the head with a brick hard enough, it could knock them unconscious, possibly even kill them._

"_You're special to me Ryker. I don't want to lose you. You're like…you're like a son…"_

_Ryker firmly gripped the brick and swiftly smashed it into David's head, the brick breaking on impact. David got off Ryker and Ryker ran to the door. He tried to open it…but it refused to open. It was then he felt a harsh force push him into the door._

"_You want to play it that way then?" David grabbed Ryker by his hair and threw him harshly on the ground. _

_Another brick was in Ryker's sight. _

_Ryker wiped the blood from his mouth, picked up the brick and stood up._

"_Let's play then little rabbit." David said._

**~T~L~O~U~**

"So how'd it go down?" Ellie was extremely curious. It was obvious that Ryker had every intention to kill David. He had every reason under the sun and moon to kill him. But above all, his life depended on it. What happened to cause Ryker to _not_ kill him?

"Me and him went back and forth for a good while. By the end of it, I was sure I had a broken rib or two, my nose was bent at an angle it wasn't supposed to, several open wounds." Ryker responded. "But rest assured I got a few good hits in. Mama didn't raise no fool." Ryker laughed.

Ellie didn't get the reference but chuckled anyway.

"Don't hold off on the details now." Ellie said.

"Gave him a black eye, knocked a few teeth out, pretty sure I broke that sick fuck's ankle too."

"_Damn."_

"Towards the end of the fight, he got in a mean right hook that caused me to black out for a few moments. When I came to, he was on top of me trying to choke me out. I'm trying to search for a brick, bottle, anything to get him off, but I couldn't get my hands on anything. I thought it was the end. Next thing you know –WHAM! - baseball bat connects with his head."

"Who hit him?"

"Mother Judith to the rescue. She finally came back from whatever dark place she went to and landed a homeroom right on David's head."

"She didn't kill him?"

"No time to finish him off. He was still breathing so his buddies must have found him or something. Seeing as you ran into him too." Ryker looked into Ellie's eyes and could see the pain in her eyes. Oh yeah. David _definitely_ got to her. But he hoped he didn't get to her the way he got to his mother.

"So my mom got us out, we managed to find our bags, empty of course, but we scrounged up some supplies. My mom took David's revolver and I managed to find a shorty. Then we hauled ass right out of that place."

"How'd you get here?" Ellie asked.

"We wandered around but we made sure we left Colorado. Then I got really sick and on account of my injuries, we couldn't move around much. Soon not at all. My mom was resilient and still chose to carry me on her shoulders whenever we had to move. But my illness got worse and my broken ribs were turning into a major issue. Then while trying to find some medicine, she stumbled onto this place and ran into Maria. The rest's history."

"Holy fucking shit." Ellie said.

"Good enough for you?" Ryker said in a joking tone.

"More than I was expecting actually."

"I don't talk about this part of my life much, for obvious reasons. But I felt…I don't know comfortable opening up to you. It felt good letting that out. Especially since you can relate a bit."

"Yeah…" Maybe talking about it can help her too.

"It's still with me. No matter how hard I shake it always manages to slip in. Those were darker days." Ryker said. "But it's those moments that define us, make us into who we are today. Y'know what I mean?"

"The past shapes us." Ellie responded.

Ryker nodded in agreement. "What doesn't kill you makes you stronger is what I like to say." Ryker stretched and got up from the table. Ellie followed.

"Well that's my story." Ryker said. "I hope that was worth my complete humiliation."

"About a thousand times over. But we should totally do this again." Ellie smirked.

"You're already on. And next time, I'm going to hand your ass right back to you."

"Oh you know that won't be happening, Riley- Ryker. Ryker."

Ryker shot her an amused look but said nothing.

"Well I promised Lester I would help him gather some lumber for that bar construction project."

"You signed up for that?"

"Not really, but you don't have to sign up to lend a hand. You could step in anytime."

Ellie nodded. "Well it was nice talking to you."

"Always a pleasure." Ryker responded. "I'll see you at school tomorrow?"

"Unfortunately." Ellie muttered.

"Hey, at least it's a half day."

"Yeah, but we'll still have to be there."

Ryker laughed. "Good point."

The two of them hugged for a while before going their separate ways.

As Ellie walked she couldn't help but think. The weather's getting warmer. That meant one thing.

One year.

It's almost been one year.

Ellie didn't wear this necklace often, if not at all, but she's always kept it with her. As the anniversary approached, she decided to wear it for the time being. She pulled the necklace out from under her shirt and looked at it. The chain was rusty and the dry blood still soaked the edges of the pendant.

She looked at the name inscribed.

"I miss you." Ellie whispered.

Ellie tucked the necklace back under her shirt and looked up at the sky. The sun shone directly in her face. She smiled at that.

The sky was also beginning to change colors. A beautiful blend of orange, pink, purple. It was sundown.

Joel had instructed her to be home by sundown.

As much as Ellie wanted to, she didn't feel like deliberately disobeying him today.

Maybe if she's good he'll give her another soothing hair massage.

**~T~L~O~U~**

Joel heard the door open. He looked up from his book and realized that Ellie was home. On time.

"You're home." Joel said, astonished.

"Why do you sound so shocked? You did say by sundown." Ellie walked over and took a seat by Joel.

"Wasn't expected you to actually be home by sundown." Joel laughed a bit. "You running a fever?"

Joel placed a palm on Ellie's forehead to check her temperature. She felt normal.

Ellie gently slapped his hand away. "I'm fine."

"Everything alright? You sound a bit…off."

Ellie paused for a moment. Maybe she's been holding this in too long.

"What happened last winter…while you were out. I'm ready to tell you."

Joel's eyes widened. He wondered why she was open to tell him all of sudden but the sooner the better. It broke his heart to hear her screaming and crying during the night. He wanted to put an end to all that.

"Well, I got some leftovers from the diner. Grab a plate and come on over."

Ellie went to the kitchen. Today's menu consisted of goat meat, mashed potatoes, a biscuit, and grape juice. She filled her plate and went back to the couch.

"Eat up first." Joel said softly.

Ellie nodded and ate her food. She ate slower than normal.

Once she was done, she leaned into the couch and looked at Joel.

"Okay." Ellie said.

"C'mere." Joel laid down on his back, gesturing for Ellie to lie on him.

Ellie kicked off her converse sneakers and went to lay on top of him, looking into his eyes.

Just like before, Joel undid her ponytail and began running his fingers through her hair.

"Noo." Ellie protested, grabbing his arm to stop his motions. "I'll fall asleep. I want to tell you tonight."

"Whenever you're ready." Joel said, hugging her close.

After a moment of silence, Ellie spoke up. She told him want she had endured that winter. The run in she had at the Colorado Mountains Plaza, how close she was to losing him. He knew this part already but if it's where she wanted to begin, then so be it.

She transitioned to when she arrived at the Lakeside Resort. And how everything spiraled down into darkness.

How her innocence was threatened.

It took her a while, being overcome by tears numerous times but Joel silently encouraged her.

"And then you found me at the restaurant." Ellie said, bringing the story to a complete close.

Joel wished he could have gotten his hands on David. Even with how Ellie ended him, as brutal as it may be, that was still too easy for him. If Joel could help it, he would have tortured him until he was begging for death. But he would never get it. Not immediately anyway.

Ellie was a lot stronger that he gave her credit for. He realized that.

But even the strong have their weak points.

And he made it his goal to be there during those weak points.

"Oh baby girl. I'll never let anything like that happen to you again. Ever."

"Promise?" Ellie asked softly.

"Until my heart stops beating."

She looked into his eyes and saw nothing that would make her think otherwise. No doubts at all.

Ellie wiped at her tears, Joel aiding her. Ellie then wiped at any tears that had slipped out of Joel's eyes. He gently kissed her forehead. She let out a little giggle, closed her eyes and placed her ear directly over his heart. The steady beat was comforting and combined with Joel's hair massage she was lulled right to sleep.

Her dreams were pleasant for the first time in weeks.

* * *

It got better :3 Good feels, good feels all around =D

Slightly shorter than previous chapters but it can't be helped =)

Thanks for reading and please review =)


	8. I'm Here Now

Chapter 8: I'm Here Now

"_Tomorrow's the big day."_

Ed said it so confidently at the diner but now he was beyond terrified. He barely slept that night. When he did manage to sleep, his dreams consisted of nothing but all the possible ways that this revelation could end up. Most were neither good nor bad, some VERY good, a select few were bad, but one had it going completely south.

That one was lost as soon as he woke up.

He tossed and turned for while, then choosing to read his favorite chemistry book, afterwards, choosing to balance some equations.

Before he knew it, the sun was up. The light hit him directly in the face, as if it were mocking him.

There would be little to no work done today on the bar and he wasn't scheduled to guard the perimeters, so Ed had no obligations other than the evening shift at the diner today.

Best use that time to rest up. The moment of truth would most likely take place early afternoon, then again Joel never set up a specific time. He wasn't even sure how he would tackle this.

So much for catching up on sleep.

**~T~L~O~U~**

"Ah thank god, I'm outta there." Ellie muttered.

Today wasn't a full school day. Something about it being in observance of Memorial Day. Ellie didn't understand it, but she sure as hell wasn't complaining.

"Is it really that bad?" Joel asked.

"It's exhausting."

"More exhausting than taking on hunters or the infected?"

"I'd pick that ten times over going to school." Ellie replied.

Joel laughed out loud.

"Don't take this the wrong way, but why are you picking me up today? You've never done that before."

"Thought I'd take you out for pizza today."

Today the diner was serving up a classic. Good old cheese pizza. It's been so long since Joel had a good slice of pizza so he was looking forward to today.

"What's pizza?" Ellie asked.

"Oh you poor child." Joel muttered, placing a hand on her shoulder and pulling her close to him.

**~T~L~O~U~**

Ed was in full panic mode now. Ellie had been released from school and was most likely on her way home…or on her way here. Ed had _no_ idea what to do.

He was pacing so much he was sure there was a hole in his house now.

"God damn it, why am I so nervous?" Ed said to himself.

A bang on the door brought him out of his frantic thoughts. His heart skipped several beats. He went over to the door and slowly opened it, only to find Tommy standing there with a small box.

"Morning or rather, afternoon, Ed. You doing alright? We missed you at breakfast." Tommy said.

Oh right. Food.

"Oh I just overslept. I had nothing to do today so I thought I'd take advantage."

Tommy nodded in understanding.

"Well the diner's special for lunch today is pizza and I snuck you a few slices, knowing that it's definitely going to run out fast. Greg and Dexter could only make so much." Tommy said, handing the still warm box to Ed.

"Ah, thank you." Ed took the box and looked inside. His mouth watered at the sight and the delicious scent had woken up his stomach, causing it to roar out.

Tommy let out a little chuckle. "Also, Joel wanted me to tell you to be at his house at about 3."

"3 o'clock." Ed muttered to himself. He glanced at the working clock he had in his living room and saw that it was 1:30.

*An hour and a half to go

"Alright." Ed smiled. "Thank you."

"No problem. Take it easy." Tommy waved at him and walked away. Ed closed the door and leaned against it, closing his eyes.

Then an idea crossed his mind.

It might seem drastic and unnecessary but it doesn't help to have just a little more insurance.

Ed sat on his couch and quickly ate the four slices of pizza, savoring the taste that was vacant in his life for a sinful amount of time. Once he was done, he looked up at the clock he saw it was 1:50.

Plenty of time.

Ed changed out of his house clothes and changed into a denim button down shirt with a black t-shirt underneath, black jeans, and converse sneakers. He tied his hair back in its signature bun and ran out the door.

He knew what he needed to do.

**~T~L~O~U~**

"Where has this been all my life?" Ellie moaned as she dug into her third slice of pizza. Joel couldn't help but chuckle.

"Yeah they sure didn't have these at the Boston QZ." Joel said, finishing up on his second slice of pizza.

"Now I see what you mean by I'm getting a taste of what was once life's luxury."

"Don't eat yourself sick now. I've got a surprise for you and it it'll be ruined if you're puking up what you ate."

"What kind of surprise?" Ellie asked.

"You'll see."

Ellie looked away in thought.

"I don't think it's my birthday." Ellie commented.

"When is your birthday anyway?" Joel asked. It was a good question. They could have gone right by it during their journey here.

"Marlene told me it was somewhere between late 2018 or very early 2019. She doesn't remember the exact date said it was really cold and there was some snow fall around the time I was born, so during the winter I guess."

They did pass by it. Joel prayed that the events that happened to her during the winter happened _very_ far from the date of her birthday.

"So you're technically 15 now." Joel commented.

"I guess." Ellie stuffed the last of her pizza in her mouth. "When's yours?"

"September 26th, 1985."

Ellie quickly did the math the best she could in her head. "So you're turning 49 this year?"

"Suppose I am."

"Old geezer."

"Easy, it'll happen to you too." Joel laughed.

Ellie waved him off. "God I'm so fucking full." Ellie sat back and rubbed her full stomach.

"Hit the spot?"

"Abso-fucking-lutely. Any chance we could take some on the go?"

"I'll see what I can do." Joel stood up and went to the serving area.

There were significantly less people compared to the amount there was when he and Ellie had walked in. It wasn't out of the ordinary for Joel to see people all worked up over food, but it was the first time he'd seen people react so calmly. People use to trample over each other just to get the last piece of bread or cup of water. Here, everyone was orderly, excited and a bit restless, but at the very least polite; most importantly, nowhere close to killing each other.

Maybe there is hope after all. It may be small, but it's there.

Joel reached the serving area and noticed just how truly _exhausted_ Greg and Dexter looked. But nonetheless, they looked happy and proud of their work.

"Hey Joel!" Dexter enthusiastically greeted.

Dexter Hamilton was a youthful man, despite his age. In truth, he is 40 years old, turning 41 in August. But one could be easily fooled at first glance of his face

He stands at 5'11, has a slim muscular figure but he's a lot stronger than he looks; his dark hair is styled in a faux-hawk and is complemented by his equally dark brown eyes. He is always quick to crack a joke to lighten the mood. _("Ellie should meet him…")_

But despite his cheerful demeanor, the scars that line his face and arms tell that he was not spared from the struggles of this unforgiving world. He had come from Colombia, South Carolina, rumored one of the most brutal quarantine zones in America.

"Hey Dex. Busy shift today, huh?" Joel drawled out.

"Busiest it's ever been. But it's all worth it, being able to put a fine meal in these good people's stomachs. Who said southern hospitality is dead?"

Joel chuckled. "Think there might be a good amount of people that can disagree with that."

"I hear that. So what can I do you for?"

"Think I may be able to get a few extra slices to go?" Joel asked.

"You think just because you're the leader's brother you get extra servings?" Dex asked, his tone harsh, eyes darkening a bit.

Silence

"Because you're damn right you do!" Dex laughed, especially since this is the second time he's done this today. "How many would you like? Don't think we'll be getting any more people coming in. Now it's just people coming back for thirds and fourths, sixths and sevenths, you get the idea."

"I think four more'll do."

Dexter grabbed a box and some aluminum foil. He took the slices and wrapped them individually in aluminum before placing them in the box.

"Here you are." Dexter handed the box to Joel with one of his trademark smiles.

"Thank you." Joel took the box, resisting the urge to flinch from the intensity of Dexter's smile. He really wondered if it was possible for someone to be blinded by a smile like that.

"Anytime, see you around Joel."

Joel made his way back to Ellie.

"Got us four extra slices." Joel waved the box.

"Sweet. Be sure to hide them from me."

Joel looked up at the diner's clock and saw it was 2:30. By now, Ed should be on his way, possibly even at his house already. He left a note and an extra key for him to go inside.

"Come on, girl. Let's head on home."

"Already?" Ellie whined. The rain had gone away and the sun was coming out, ensuring a beautiful rest of the day.

"It's time for your surprise."

Ellie's eyes immediately brightened and she began bouncing towards the door.

Joel shook his head in amusement and went to pick up the plates and cups to take to the disposal area.

"I'll take that." Joel turned around and saw Greg standing there holding the box for dirty dishes. Joel took the plates and cups and handed them to Greg who then placed them in the box.

"Let me know how it goes." Greg whispered with a smile.

Joel nodded and walked off, meeting Ellie at the doors.

It was now or never.

**~T~L~O~U~**

Ed had arrived at the Joel's house at about 2:40 with his _insurance _in hand. He quickly went upstairs into their bathroom, placing the insurance inside.

"Don't give yourself away now." Ed closed the door and went back downstairs. He sat down on the couch, twiddling his thumbs. He glanced at the clock.

2:45

He regretted not bringing his favorite book to read and losing his necklace, to at least calm his now active nerves. In moments like this, he would just absently twirl the pendant in his finger tips.

That always helped him think.

Ed spied one of Ellie's comics on the table and decided to see what the fuss was about. It may have been in the middle of the series, but it wouldn't hurt just to take a peak.

He wound up tearing through the comic in record time and opted to grab a napkin and a pen and balance the equations he had been unable to solve in the past.

After some time, he heard footsteps and voices approaching the door. He shakily placed the napkin and pen on the table in front of the couch.

"Just be cool. Just be cool." Ed muttered to himself.

It wouldn't be much of a surprise if he was awkwardly standing there, so he remained seated.

Moment of truth.

**~T~L~O~U~**

Joel had instructed for Ellie to close her eyes since they left the diner. She didn't trust to let Joel be her eyes but he swore, "cross my heart and hope to get infected", no funny business.

This time.

"So is it a dinosaur?" Ellie asked.

"Excuse me?" Joel asked.

"Is the surprise a dinosaur?"

"Why don't you wait and see?"

"I'll love you more if it's a dinosaur."

Pause.

Joel didn't hear what he just heard…did he?

"What was that?"

Ellie's eyes flew open upon the realization of her slip and replied with an unintentionally quick and squeaky, "Nothing."

"Keep them eyes closed." Joel responded.

"Right, right." Ellie closed her eyes once more, her mind actively trying to figure out what the surprise could be. This was highly uncharacteristic of Joel, making the process much harder.

Because she was so deep in her thoughts, Ellie barely heard Joel's warning of incoming steps. Her foot got caught on the first step and was falling forward but she felt strong arms catch her.

"I gotcha." Joel caught her with ease, picked her up and carried her up the rest of the steps.

"Thanks. Can I open my eyes yet?"

"Not yet." Joel opened the door and guided Ellie in.

"At this rate, I'll fall asleep like this." Ellie muttered.

"Could be useful against the infected." Joel commented.

Ellie snorted at his comment.

Against his initial thought, Ed stood up once Joel and Ellie walked in. Joel motioned at him to sit back down and he did so immediately.

Joel guided Ellie until she was standing directly in front of Ed, only separated by a table.

Joel silently went over to the window, leaned against it and cross his arms, so he can get a good view of how things will transpire and so he can quickly step in if needed.

"Alright, you can open them now." Joel said.

"Why do you sound so far away?" Ellie asked.

Joel rolled his eyes. "Open your eyes girl."

"Alright, alright."

Ellie opened her eyes and rubbed at them, trying to get them adjusted to the light. Once her vision was clear she saw Ed.

"Hi Ellie." Ed's voice cracked. He cursed at himself for reverting back to puberty at a time like this.

"Hi." Ellie said unsurely.

A tense silence fell between the two of them. Ellie nervously bounced on her heels and was about to ask Joel what was going on (anything was possible) but was cut off by Ed.

"Okay….I spent the better part of the day running this through my head at least million and two times. I'm going to try to not beat around the bush too much." Ed took a deep breath.

"Many years ago I was involved with a woman. We had a bit of a rocky relationship but we always made it work. We loved each other despite the growing circumstances." Ed paused, trying to calm his rapidly beating heart.

"First off, let me say that I am…deeply sorry that I didn't act upon this fact once I found out. If I could go back and undo that decision, I would do it a thousand times over. Now, I could go on and give every excuse in the book and even if all of them were valid, there is no excuse for my actions, my absence. My selfishness. I should have been there for you, made you my priority. I can assure you that you were always in my thoughts, despite not knowing what you looked like. I always imagined you as the spitting image of Anna."

Ellie was at a loss for words.

Ed took another deep breath. "Ellie…I'm your dad. You're my daughter."

Joel was grateful there was chair behind Ellie otherwise she would have fallen right on the floor. As soon as those words left Ed's mouth, Ellie lost her balance and she fell right onto the chair.

"Y-you're my dad? My _real_ dad?" Ellie asked softly.

"I am sweetie." Ed said softly.

"Where have you been?"

Ed had anticipated this. "Remember our talk not too long ago at the diner? How I was involved with the fireflies?"

Ellie nodded.

"At the time, my mindset was that I couldn't drop everything and go to Boston. If anything, your birth was all the more motivation for me to find a vaccine. If I had made it, you would have been the first person to get it."

"Not like I really needed it." Ellie responded.

Ed chuckled lightly. "After the attack at Long Island, I did think about going to Boston. But the military and the fireflies don't necessarily get along. They knew my name and face well enough to shoot on sight. But they thought they had killed me. None of them knew that I made it out. If the man they supposedly killed suddenly showed up their gates, hell even within their walls, they wouldn't hesitate to shoot."

"I guess you have a point." Ellie said softly. "But why not just flat out tell me when you got here?"

"Call me a chickenshit." Ed smiled, raising his hands in surrender. "And I thought just flat out saying I'm your father might have been weird since our first initial meet was at the diner."

Ellie thought back to that day.

"_What's with that guy?"_

Ellie nodded in understanding. "Yeah, that would be weird."

"Believe me I tried every option to reach you. I even cut my hair, lost weight, gained weight, changed my eye color, you name it, I tried it. Soon enough, I found the right disguise and I made it in. Then I found out that you had left Boston. "

"I found out that you were headed for the Capitol Building. I made my way there and I saw the military backed up over there. I took a chance and snuck by them hoping that I could run into you. Walked inside and found dead fireflies."

Joel inwardly winced. _"Tess…"_

"Looked like I just missed you. I searched high and low for any more clues but I couldn't find anything. I almost assumed the worst."

"Where'd you go then?"

"Wandered the country, really. It's how I got bit a second time. While I was in Kansas, I ran into a group of survivors. Friendly group, they had kids so they weren't bad." _"Or so I thought." _"They were on their way to a growing community in California. A growing QZ turned safe haven in Los Angeles. I went with them."

"How'd you know I was here? I could have been anywhere. Shit, I've been everywhere." Ellie said softly.

Ed hesitated and his mouth went dry.

Joel sensed Ed's hesitation and rising panic. Another piece of information he wasn't ready to part with. Though it sounded a bit mysterious of how Ed knew Ellie was here, but trying to find out the real reason would be poor timing.

But Joel will get it out of him. That much he was certain.

"Little birdie told him you were nearby. Call it a father's instinct." Joel spoke up.

Ed mouthed "Thank you" at Joel. Joel nodded his head in understanding.

Ellie nodded but caught the silent and odd interaction between Ed and Joel.

"_I hate adults…"_

"I have so many questions." Ellie admitted, sadness now riddling her face.

Ed got up and walked over to her and knelt beside her.

"Well I'm here now." Ed gently grabbed her hand and squeezed it. Ellie placed her other hand on top of his. "And I'm not going anywhere." He connected his forehead with hers, looking into her green eyes. He then gently grabbed her chin and kissed her forehead before pulling her into a hug.

Joel squinted his eyes at the action but said nothing.

After a while, the two of them broke apart and the both of them had tears streaming out of their eyes.

Of all things, the faint sound of howling ruined the moment.

"Oh! I nearly forgot." Ed quickly stood up and ran upstairs.

"The fuck?" Ellie muttered, looking at Joel for an answer. But Joel just shrugged his shoulders.

Ellie took the time to wipe the tears from her eyes and waited for Ed to come back.

"Whoops!" Ed exclaimed.

The sound of tiny footsteps could be heard.

Soon, the little ball of energy came bolting down the stairs.

And Joel could have sworn Ellie's eyes were about to pop out of her head.

"Doggie!" Ellie leaped out of her chair and knelt down by the puppy to greet it. The puppy was more than happy to get to know its new owner. It was a three month old male German shepherd.

Joel laughed. "What the hell Ed?"

"What? I panicked."

Joel just smiled and shook his head.

"It's so fucking cute!" Ellie exclaimed, holding the puppy up. "I already have the perfect name for him." The puppy licked Ellie's cheek, causing her to giggle.

"And what's that?" Ed asked.

"Callus."

Joel groaned.

* * *

*= Was originally two and a half hours. Thank you to **Sky of Stars **for catching that =)

So now you see why this chapter took so long. Thanks for your patience :3

A Guest reviewer brought up something that suggests there may be just a little confusion. In chapter 7, when Ryker was telling his story, it may have sounded like Ryker's mom, Judith, is dead. _**She ****_is not dead_.**_ She is with him at the settlement! =)

And I couldn't resist bringing Callus back =D

Thank you all for taking the time to read &amp; review. Over 1K hits &amp; 30 reviews and story isn't even that old. *Happy tears*


	9. Green Eyes and Glares

Chapter 9: Green Eyes and Glares

It was now the beginning of June and the weather was warming up quickly. Jackets were only required in the early morning and late evenings and nights. But June was also notorious for her thunderstorms and there were plenty of them. The powerful shocks of lightning attacked the plant frequently and in turn would knock out the power for hours at a time, much to the irritation of the settlers.

Maintaining the plant during these storms soon became too tedious and dangerous. Three workers were nearly struck by lightning on three separate occasions.

For the sake of things, Tommy and Maria made the decision to shut down the plant until it was certain the thunderstorms would either decrease in frequency or in ferocity. Generators were installed throughout settlement to provide power to key areas such as the electric gate, the diner, and the medical center.

As for Ed and Ellie, they names were fairly well known around the settlement. Word quickly spread around the settlement that they were father and daughter. A select few already knew, judging solely on appearance, but a majority of the reactions were shock and awe.

In this merciless world, many children were separated from their parents. They were either separated by death or through dire consequences. A reunion of distant blood, always possible, but a reunion of close blood was rare.

On the border of impossible.

The news were met with mostly positivity.

Mostly.

Because they were in the spotlight, for such a rare feat no less, they had told their stories to numerous people more than a handful of times. Most found their story incredibly sweet and heartwarming, but a select few found their story a tad bit…suspicious. Mainly on Ed's end. They would ask how he knew out of the *48 available states that he knew that Ellie was here.

Each time he was asked that question (or a variation of it) the story changed and people, including Ellie, caught on.

"Father's instinct."

"I just knew."

"I never gave up."

The list when on, and Ellie's suspicion grew. Joel tried to tell her not to worry about it, but he began growing a healthy streak of suspicion as well. Ed always tipped toed around questions about his past, after the fire at Long Island also carefully weaving around the fact that he was a Firefly.

But despite all that, Ed and Ellie's relationship grew even further, the both of them more than happy to have found each other after all these years.

And much to his relief, the relationship between Joel and Ellie didn't falter at all. It would even seem that they were closer than ever.

Many people thought there would be competition between the two but it would seem a compromise had been made.

About a week ago…

**~T~L~O~U~**

Ed was staying at Joel's house while his roof was being repaired. During a particularly fierce thunderstorm with heavy rain, the roof of Ed's house gave away, leaving a gaping hole in the middle. It would take a day or two to repair.

After eating their dinner Ellie was on the floor playing with Callus while Joel sat on the chair besides her reading _The Great Gatsby_, and Ed was in the kitchen cleaning up the dishes. Since Joel cooked the dinner, Ed insisted that he clean up the dishes, not wanted to feel like he was freeloading.

Every once in a while he looked at Ellie, smiling and shake his head in amusement. A strong girl such as her able to take down an army of hunters and infected acting…well acting like _that. _

If only they could see her now.

Every once in a while, he glanced over at Ed. He picked up some trace of nervousness but dismissed it as a slight fear of thunderstorms. Ellie used to fear thunderstorms but seems to have gotten over it.

But at the same time he really took in the atmosphere in here.

It had a…domestic feel to it.

Joel shook his head to get rid of these thoughts and returned to his book.

"Hey um…" Ellie spoke up, unintentionally trailing off. "…Guys? How does this work?"

Joel put down his book. "What do you mean?"

Ed dried his hands and made his way to the living room, leaning on the back of the couch.

"I mean…" Elle stood up and wringed her fingers together, pacing a bit. Callus whined at her feet, wondering why play time was suddenly over.

Ellie turned to Ed.

"Ed, you're biologically my dad, but Joel…I consider him a father too. He was there when you weren't and I can't just drop him."

She then turned to Joel.

"I know you didn't mean anything by it and you just said this because you were angry; but you're not _really_ my dadI'm not really your daughter…."

Joel's hearted tightened. If he could go back and stop himself form saying those words, he would do it ten times over.

Among other things…

"Ed is my dad, but so are you Joel. I love you like a father."

Joel's heart fluttered at the admission. He felt a tugging at his feet and found Callus gently pulling at his pant leg. Callus looked up and yipped.

"_Well Callus seems to have chosen…"_ Joel thought to himself.

"Basically, I don't know what to do here. Do I call you both dad? Do I call one of you dad? I'd really like to avoid the awkward situation where I say "dad" and both of you turn around and I say "no the other one." You know?"

Now that he realized it, Ellie had never blatantly called Joel "dad", that much was understandable. But Joel realized that Ellie never called Ed "dad" either, always by Ed. Times may be different now but it was still a bit strange to hear a child address their parent by their first name.

"Well I think that's up to you, Ellie." Ed spoke up. "You could call us both 'dad', assign some variations to one or both of us, whatever you feel. You normally just call me by my first name and I don't mind that."

"Well I call Joel by his first name too." Ellie responded.

Callus whined, sensing the growing tension in the air. But once he realized he wasn't getting any attention, he decided to lie patiently and observantly at Joel's feet.

It's probably nothing.

"Is it really wrong to have two dads?" Ellie asked.

Ed snorted. "Oh you have no idea."

"What do you mean?" Ellie asked.

"Back in our time, there used to be riots if two people of the same gender wanted to raise a child. Thinking it was immoral, sinful, unnatural." Joel said.

"And don't even try mentioning same gender couples wanting to get married. Those were even worse." Ed added.

"Why?" Ellie asked.

"Religion. Supposedly, according to religion, God wouldn't condone it. It would send you right to hell." Ed said.

"That's fucking bullshit! If two people want to get married then let them get married. Shouldn't matter if they're the same gender. Same thing if they want to have a kid."

Ed let out a low whistle. "If only they could hear her now, huh Joel?"

Joel chuckled. "She acts better than most of the population did."

"You guys really lived in a strange time." Ellie shook her head. "Anyway, there's nothing wrong with having two dads then?"

"Not in my eyes." Joel responded.

"Live and let live is what I say." Ed said.

"So…you're both my dads then?"

"Suppose so, baby girl." Joel said.

Ed however crossed his arms and stared thoughtfully at Joel. "I don't know Ellie. He seems a bit old for my taste." He then laughed.

Joel rolled his eyes and pinched the bridge of his nose.

Callus pulled at his pant leg again, a bit more roughly this time.

"What's wrong Callus?" Joel asked. _"God I still hate that name."_

"He wants to sit in your lap." Ellie responded.

Joel picked Callus up and placed him in his lap. He got a hand lick in response.

"But this still doesn't solve my problem. What do I call you guys?"

Joel secretly hoped that the current arrangements would remain as is. Ellie would keep calling Ed by his name and Ellie by some chance, could call him dad.

"How about for now, I call you two by your names and when I feel it's right. I'll call one of you dad? Then maybe I'll come up with an alternative for the other so no one's left out?"

"Sounds good to me." Joel responded, gently petting Callus' head.

"That's a pretty fair deal."

**~T~L~O~U~**

That week has passed and Ellie began to regret making that deal. It's not that two of them had become overbearing, all around trying too hard, or smothering (though Joel becoming a mother hen was a funny thought to her) but there had been some noticeable tension between the two of them. There weren't necessarily fights between the two, they actually got along fairly well.

But Ellie could swear that they were fighting with their eyes, with their minds. Every time she did or said something to one of them, she could swear that Ed would glare at Joel (then covering it up with a smile) and that Joel's eyes would turn green before being blinked away.

It drove her crazy.

The most recent instance where she was sure a fight was going to break out was today. She, Joel, Ed, and Ryker were at the diner for lunch. Joel and Ed sat across from her while Ryker sat next to her (much to Joel's discomfort). She went to ask if she could have a refill of her grape juice.

"Dad, could you get me a refill?" Ellie's eyes widened and her hand went to her lips.

Ryker nearly swallowed his fork.

Pin drop silence.

If only life had a rewind button.

"Uh…." Ellie was frozen and felt herself shrinking under the stares of Ed and Joel. She's been in plenty of sticky situations before but they all paled in comparison to this one. How could she get out of this one?

Ryker sensed the growing tension and offered to refill Ellie's drink for her. Without waiting for her confirmation he grabbed her cup and all but power walked to the refreshment area.

That certainly didn't make things better for her.

Ellie quickly got out of her seat to go by Ryker.

"What the fuck man? How could you leave me there?"

"Look, El. I'll gladly stick by your side whenever. Just…not that." Ryker pointed at Joel and Ed.

"Now what the fuck do I do?" Ellie sighed.

"Well, who was it meant for?"

"That's the thing. I don't know. It just came out."

Ryker hummed. "Remember what we learned in psychology class the other day? About Freud?"

"Sigmund Freud, the weird sexual guy? Yeah I remember him."

"Well remember what our teacher said about the Freudian slip? You may have just had one of those." Ryker finished filling up her cup with grape juice and handed it to her. Ellie took it, nodded in thanks and took a sip.

"Is there any way to prevent this Freudian slip? They may be killing each other in their heads but if this happens again, I'm pretty sure a full on fist fight is going to break out in my honor."

"The way I see it, you had a Freudian slip because you have an internal desire for a father. You might not want one really, but subconsciously, you do. It may never go away."

Ellie groaned. "Can't I just halfass it and get it over with?"

"That may not help. You may assign one of them as 'dad' and the other isn't, but you could wind up calling the one who isn't, 'dad'. And that could bring you right back to square one."

Ellie swirled her drink in her cup, then looked over at Joel and Ed. They appeared to be civil with one another but could tell they were discussing something.

"Look, why don't you go and get Callus then you and I can hang out for the rest of the day? Looks like you need to get away for a while."

"Are you asking me out?" Ellie smirked.

"Um…" Ryker stuttered.

Ellie chuckled. "I'm just fucking with you." Ellie finished off the rest of her juice and placed her cup in the nearby disposal area. "Yeah, after dealing with those two, I need a break."

Ellie and Ryker made their way back to Joel and Ed. As soon as they arrived, the two of them stopped talking about whatever they were talking about.

It really made Ellie wonder.

"Hey guys, I'm going to get Callus and hang with Ryker for the rest of the day." Ellie said.

"Be back by sundown." Joel and Ed said simultaneously. They immediately glared at each other.

"Back by sundown, yes sirs." Ryker grabbed Ellie's hand and quickly dragged her out of the diner.

"You sure, I can't halfass this?" Ellie asked.

"Ironically, the human mind is a heartless bitch. Keep that in mind, Ellie." Ryker responded.

"Right…" Ellie muttered.

"_Fuck you mind. And fuck you Freud."_

* * *

I guess this is a filler chapter? XD

Things are pretty...strained between Joel and Ed. Had to happen lol.

The reason why this chapter took so long as that I got Batman: Arkham City as a very early birthday gift. I hope that's enough of an explanation XD

A huge thank you to all who reads and reviews =) You're all awesome =3


	10. Lose Control

Chapter 10: Lose Control

The next day, Ed and Ellie were on another one of their nature walks outside the settlement. The weather was expected to be beautiful, a complete turnaround from yesterday's mess. The sun was high in the sky, the humidity was at a comfortable level, and every now and then a breeze would come through to keep things steady.

Ellie wore blue jeans, converse and a light blue flannel shirt but because of the decrease in temperature, she wrapped the flannel around her waist, leaving her in her gray tank top.

At the advisement of Joel, Tommy and Maria, Ellie always kept her bite wound wrapped with medical tape, excusing it as a nasty scar caused by a shot gun. The news of her bite mark remained between the four of them and the medical staff. A full medical profile was required for everyone but the staff swore everything would remain confidential. Public knowledge of it could cause massive amounts of panic and misunderstandings would create chaos, the very thing that everyone here strived to get away from.

Same went with Ed's bites which were faded and scarred enough to be excused as stab wounds (except the fresh one on his collarbone, it's always wrapped) and Baron's scratch, which is excused as a narrow escape from a hatchet.

"God damn it's hot." Ellie said, wiping a few beads of sweat from her forehead.

Ed hummed in response, keeping a firm eye on the ground, as if he were looking for something.

"Everything okay, Ed?" Ellie asked.

Ed's head snapped up. "Yeah, yeah. I'm sorry." He glanced over at Ellie and saw the medical tape wrapped around the mark on her forearm.

"I've been meaning to ask, but has there been any change with your bite mark?" Ed asked.

Ellie brought her arm up and looked at the tape, feeling the bite. Every once in a while, she felt pain run through it, as if she had been bitten just yesterday.

"Not really, but sometimes I feel some burning and itchiness. The medical team has some cream for it and that usually relieves it."

Ed nodded his head. "Any change in appearance?"

"Back in March it looked like it was getting worse, like the fungus that surrounded it started swelling a bit, but it's been going down. Joel says that pretty soon the bite may be all that's left. Then it could fade away on its own."

Ed crossed his arms in thought.

"How do you feel though? Even if that bite mark heals, the fungus just going away might not happen."

"I get headaches sometimes but Joel usually hands me some pain killers and they go away. But they've been getting a little worse lately."

Ed made a mental note of this information. He began running calculations in his head…

"I'm…I'm not going to turn right?" Ellie asked softly, the slightest hints of fear in her eyes.

Ed flickered back to reality, walked closer to her and placed his hands on her shoulders to comfort her.

"Sweetie, I've been bitten twice…rather three times now and I'm nowhere near to losing my mind."

"Do you get headaches too? Do your bite marks burn?"

"I get the occasional migraine but I've had that since I was your age. Don't really have them now." Ed responded. "As for the bites, yeah they flare up sometimes but I use ice packs to soothe them. The one on my collarbone is a bitch to deal with sometimes but it's nothing I can't handle."

Ellie still didn't feel sure. Every time she looked at her bite, she didn't feel like she was really immune. Riley turned before her. Maybe some people just take longer than others.

But when she thinks about Ed, her father, his first bite was almost twenty years ago. There's no way the timer could run that long.

Ellie just didn't know.

"Ellie listen to me. I swear you will never turn. I promise you that."

"But how do you really know?" Ellie asked.

"_Maybe I should let her in…"_ Ed opened his mouth to answer but was promptly cut off by the bone chilling sound of a gun cocking. He looked up and saw three hunters emerge from the bushes, one of them armed with assault rifle.

"Stay by me sweetie." Ed pushed Ellie behind him to shield her from any immediate danger.

"Well what do we have here?" The leader of this group spoke up.

"What do you want?" Ed spoke up.

"When the world becomes one without laws, it's up to us to make our own. Normally we would shoot _tourists_ like you on the spot for trespassing on our territory, you feel?"

"We didn't know this area was occupied, we'll leave, alright?" Ed said, grabbing Ellie's hand.

"Ah-ah-ah." The hunter wagged his finger. "Though I'm glad you seem like the negotiating type, because we're a negotiating type of group, y'know?" The hunter waved his machete around. "Allow me to introduce myself, my name is Bray. My friends here are Luke and David."

Ellie felt a chill run up her spine at the mention of the name David. She shook her head looked at the man known as David breathed out a small sigh of relief when she didn't see any noticeable similarities to the David she used to know.

Or any scars.

But really, all three of them were…Ellie couldn't find any words to describe them. Bray had a long bushy beard and long hair. He was tall, probably just a shade shorter than Joel, but was a bit rounder. Not as big as Bill, but he wasn't skinny. The most remarkable thing about him were his eyes, a deep blue and looked like they could glare a hole through the strongest steel. Ellie dared to not make any contact.

Luke seemed to be…out of it to be frank. He had no visible weapons on him but looked like he could take on a bloater with his bare fists. He wore a sleeveless denim jacket, dirty jeans and black boots.

David, the one with the assault rifle, appeared to be the more normal ones out of the two. He was bald but had a black goatee. He wore a dark green hooded sweater, green camouflage pants, and black shoes. He was also around the same height as Joel but had more muscle mass.

These were nothing like Ellie and Joel had encountered before. Something about these three just seemed…off.

"Now here's how things work here. We only allow _tourists _such as yourselves pass through for a little toll."

"We don't have anything." Ed responded, internally cursing himself for not bringing some sort of firearm with him. He didn't plan to wander as far as they did from the settlement.

"Don't be quick to jump to conclusions. We accept anything. Bits of food, raw supplies, ammunition, shivs, you gotta have something?" Bray asked once more.

Ellie had her switchblade tucked in the back of her pants, but there was no way in hell she was giving it up to these assholes.

"We swear we don't have anything. We just momentarily left our camp to find a river to relieve ourselves from the heat. Honest." Telling them about the settlement could just be fuel to this burning inferno.

"Don't wrap yourselves up in more lies. That does nothing but grant you bullet between your lying eyes. Or that lying tongue being cut out of your smartass mouth, you hear?"

Ed gulped, tightened the grip on Ellie's hand (her grip equally tight), and kept her as close to him as possible.

"You too are to clean, too well kept to have been wandering these harsh lands. You come from some place good, those safe havens we've been hearing so much about." Bray twirled his machete. "We come from one as well. We use these tolls as a means to keep our little community prospering. Make sure all of ours are well and happy. And David has been particularly angry lately. His methods of _release_ haven't been doing the trick so please excuse him if he appears a bit trigger happy."

All three of these men were unstable. A special kind of unstable.

"And the point remains, you have to pay the price for your mistake. And I think I spy your method of payment." Bray looked Ellie. She went to pull out her switchblade but Ed silently advised her not to.

"Mind telling me your name little one?" Bray asked.

"It's none of your god damn business."

"Feisty." Bray sickeningly licked his lips.

"You aren't getting anywhere near her. We haven't done anything wrong. Just drop this nonsense and let us go. You won't find us here anymore."

"Oh really, Ed-boy? You haven't done anything wrong? Because I have a million different reasons that'll big to differ."

Ed flinched at the nickname. He used to have that nickname when he was with the fireflies.

But the way he said it…

Before Ed or Ellie had time to react, Bray went on the attack, separating them. Bray held Ed back at knifepoint while Luke grabbed Ellie. She reached for her switchblade but before she had a chance to grab it, Luke had restrained her.

"Let go of me you fuck face!" Ellie did her best to break the hold but Luke was as strong as he looked, if not stronger.

"She's a little young, but you take what you can get, right?" Bray said, laughing.

David nodded his head and gave a crooked smile.

"Now indulge! And I am certain you will be sated for many months to come, David. We can't have you shooting potentials before they can plead their case."

Something outside Ed snapped. His mind just shut down. All he cared about at the moment was punishing these men for trying to harm his little girl.

He reared his head back and connected it with Bray's nose. Bray involuntarily released his hold on Ed, allowing for Ed to grab his machete and plunge it into Bray's side, until the blade stuck out of his back. He ran to David and wrestled the assault rifle out of his hands and shot him directly in the head. Luke went to punch him but Ed quickly countered with a hard punch of his own to Luke's jaw. He kneed Luke where it always mattered, bringing him to his knees.

Ed should have stopped right then, just punching him once or twice to knock him out.

But he didn't.

Instead he had Luke in a modified headlock. He placed two fingers in the top part of Luke's mouth and another two at the bottom.

And he began to pull.

Luke tried to fight his way back but it shockingly enough Ed was far too strong.

"_You don't touch my little girl ever. Let this be a message."_

With one final pull a sickening crack filled the air.

Luke's body fell to the ground, with his head torn in two and almost nothing left of it. Remnants of were splattered on the green grass, some landing on the innocent flowers.

Ed breathed heavily as he looked at the corpses, making sure they wouldn't rise up for a second round.

"You don't touch my little girl, you don't touch her ever in her life!" He bellowed out.

"_Only bloaters…only…bloaters..."_ Ellie has seen how bloaters can kill their prey. Ed's was far too similar.

Bloaters were the last stage of the CBI, the result of years of infection.

Years of infection.

Was he infected this whole time, just with no fungus to show for it?

Is that what was going to happen to her?

"_He promised…"_

Ellie was no stranger to gruesome to violence. Joel was as brutal as they come. But in each in every brutal encounter where Joel battles for survival, Ellie always knew that Joel would cool down as soon as the threat was clear.

But looking at Ed? She wasn't even sure if Ed would even cool down and recognize her

And that scared her.

She let out a whimper and that was enough to bring Ed back. He looked at her and saw the look of fear on her face.

Rage was immediately replaced by guilt

"Sweetie…" Ed saw how much Ellie was shaking.

"Get away from me." Ellie said.

"Sweetie, I'm not going to hurt you…"

"No! Get the fuck away from me!" Ellie kicked him away, quickly stood up and ran back to the settlement.

"Ellie!" Ed called after her but she showed no signs of turning around. He then took a moment to take in what had truly happened.

"What is going on with me? I thought I had this under control." Ed looked at his hands, covered with Luke's blood. "This hasn't happened in years…" Ed placed a hand on his newest bite mark.

"Damn." He muttered. "The new bite must have neutralized it." He rubbed the bite mark and looked at the bodies laid before him.

Bray, Luke, David, those names were too familiar to Ed. A sense of dread soon took over him.

"No, no, no, no…!"

He had to check.

We went to Luke and David first and pulled back the collars on their shirts.

They wore the necklaces.

Ed could feel his heart rate quickening as he walked over to Bray. With shaking hands he pulled back Bray's shirt. Ed's moved back as if he had been burned.

Not only did he have the necklace but Bray's had the golden stamp, like his once did.

That meant one thing.

They're here.

**~T~L~O~U~**

Ellie ran back to the settlement without looking back, with tears in her eyes. Once she reached the gates, she banged on them, begging and pleading to be let in. The guards let her in but were distraught by her behavior. They tried to stop her and ask what was wrong but she just ran by them.

They alerted Tommy who in turned alerted Joel and told the rest of the guard to keep an eye out just in case she decided to run off again.

Joel was at home, his guard duty shift didn't start until 2 so he was just lying around reading one of Ellie's comics to kill time. But once he got the call from Tommy, he was alert, waiting for Ellie to come home.

Callus had also picked up on the distress and waited with Joel for Ellie's arrival.

Ellie eventually came barging home and ran directly up the stairs, completely ignoring Joel and Callus.

Joel quickly followed her but before he could reach her, her door was already closed shut.

"Ellie? Ellie, what happened?" He knocked on the door.

No response, just muffled sounds of crying.

Joel tried to open the door, but found that it was locked.

"And me with no shiv…" Joel muttered, scratching the back of his head.

Right beside him, Callus scratched at the door and whined, trying to get Ellie to open the door as well.

"Good boy, Callus." Joel said.

"Ellie, baby girl, please open up?" Joel tried once more.

"I just want to be alone for a little bit, okay?" Ellie said.

Joel sighed. The only way he could get into her room was through the window and God knows he was too old for that. He went back downstairs, Callus choosing to stay by Ellie's door. Joel began theorize what the hell had happened. Ed was with her what could have possibly gone wrong?

Ed.

Joel ran out of the house, seething.

**~T~L~O~U~**

Ed had gone to the river to clean off some of the blood on his skin. There was some on his clothing but that couldn't be helped. Once he was somewhat presentable, he made his way back to the settlement. While walking he couldn't help but look over his shoulder every so often. This bit of news frightened him. Did they somehow track him?

Just what sort of mess had he brought here?

On top of that, Ed knew that he may have somehow ruined his relationship with Ellie. Even if she lost him, she still had Joel. He doesn't know what came over him. It was pure instinct to get his daughter out of harm's way but his method was nothing short of questionable.

Now he had to face Joel. And a man of that stature would no doubt pack more than just a punch.

And he knew he was going to get more than just a punch.

"_You have to pay the price for your mistake…"_

Bray's words echoed in his head as he approached the settlement. The guards immediately recognized him and opened the gates. He stepped inside and saw Tommy and Joel standing there.

And as he expected, Joel was beyond pissed, almost murderous.

"_You're making a mistake…you have to pay for your mistake…method of payment."_

Ed tried to shake his head loose of Bray's words. Now was not the time.

Joel ran at him. Ed made no move to defend himself.

Joel punched him hard, knocking him on the ground. Ed's nose was certainly broken, the blood not hesitating to flow out.

"Did…did Ellie make it back here safely?" Ed had a hunch that it was a poorly timed question but he would hate himself if Ellie had gotten hurt before she reached the settlement.

Especially by them.

Joel answered his question by kicking him hard in the ribs.

"Joel." Tommy spoke up.

Joel took a step back.

Ed took the time to gather himself. With every movement he made, pain shot through his chest. He wouldn't be surprised if he had a broken rib or two.

Joel grabbed him by the collar of his shirt, pulling him to his feet.

"You better explain what happened and you better fucking explain right now." Joel growled.

"We were ambushed by these…hunters." It hurt Ed to talk.

"What. The. Hell. Happened."

"Joel, let him talk." Tommy said. "As a matter of fact, how about we go somewhere a bit more private. I think we've caused enough of a scene."

"My house should be good enough." Ed grabbed at his ribs. "I have the medical supplies to take care of myself so you don't have to worry."

Tommy nodded his head. "Maria's at your house, Joel. She can calm Ellie down no doubt."

"Alright." Joel said. "Let's talk."

**~T~L~O~U~**

They arrived at Ed's house and walked in. However, Joel had shoved Ed in, causing him to fall.

"Easy Joel." Tommy said, taking a seat on Ed's chair. "So Eddy, mind telling us why Ellie came back here in hysterics?"

Ed had made his way to the fridge and pulled out an ice pack, placing it on his nose.

"_Damn he hits hard…"_

"We seemed to have wandered further from the settlement than intended, much further up north. Like I said before, we got ambushed by a group of hunters. We weren't armed but they said they were willing to negotiate on the matters that we trespassed on their territory. We had to pay a toll." Ed paused as the images and words flashes through his mind once more.

"They got their hands on Ellie and I just…snapped." Ed said. "The one that was holding me at knife point, I managed broke his hold on me and stabbed him. Shot the guy with the gun and then I…"

"You what?" Tommy asked.

"I…tore the third guy's jaw apart."

"Come again?" Joel said, taking a step forward.

"You know how bloaters can kill you? By tearing your jaw apart? That essentially what I did."

"God damn it." Tommy muttered. "I thought you said you had this under control?"

Joel was confused. "Have what-"

"I do! I think the third bite mark might have done something. You have my word, I'll get right on this."

"What the hell are you guys talking about?" Joel asked.

"Joel your shift is about to start. Go on, I'll finish things up with Ed and fill you in."

"I ain't going anywhere until you tell me what's going on. What do you mean by-?"

"Tommy, come in Tommy!" Maria's voice had broken through the walkie-talkie.

"What is it honey?"

"I just got word from Fred that there's trouble at the southern gates. I'm on my way there."

"What about Ellie?"

"Erm, don't worry Callus is keeping her company." Maria responded.

They heard faint sounds of gunfire.

"Sounds like some real trouble." Joel said.

"Yeah, you might want to start your shift now."

Tommy and Joel ran out of the house, leaving Ed alone.

"I should start working on this problem…" Ed made his way upstairs to tend to his wounds. In the back of his mind, he knew that he wouldn't get much sleep tonight.

He had a lot of critical thinking to do.

**~T~L~O~U~**

Once Joel was done with his shift, he stopped by the diner to get some food to go. He hoped Ellie was calm now. He still hasn't fully grasped why she was so distraught, for one who has traveled across the country and just about seen and experienced everything, her reaction was still a bit strange.

Joel got home and locked the door behind him. After the incident at the south gate today, which involved a group of bandits trying to break through the gates, everyone was advised to lock their doors and seal their windows.

Joel went upstairs to check on Ellie, brining her serving of the food with him. He knocked on the door but got no answer. He placed a hand on a knob, turned it and felt no resistance. Once he opened the door to her bedroom he encountered a sight that all fathers feared. He feared this with Sarah.

Well maybe he was over-exaggerating it.

Ellie and Ryker were lying in bed, Ellie on top of him, both of them fast asleep.

Joel's initial thought was to wake them up and then proceed to chase Ryker out of his home. But he paused. With everything she's been through today, and now she's calm enough to sleep, it would be best to not cause any more trouble. So he let it slide.

For now.

Joel stepped inside, placed her food on the table in case she was woken up by hunger during the night, then left the room. He shot one more look at Ryker and Ellie. He was holding her tight to him and she seemed more than happy to be there in his arms.

Joel closed the door gently behind him and went to his bedroom. He also found Callus asleep on his bed. But once he closed the door behind him, Callus immediately woke up and went to go greet him

"Evening to you too, Callus." Joel muttered.

Despite it being a long and rather exhausting day, Joel wasn't close to being tired. He looked over at his desk and noticed his notebook and pencil laying there. It's been a good while since he worked on the song for Ellie. He figured that he'd do any edits and finishing touches in hopes that could knock him out.

**~T~L~O~U~**

"Wow." Ellie muttered sleepily.

"Hmm?" Ryker's ears perked up.

"Joel just walked in on us and he didn't kill you on the spot."

"I am a lucky guy." Ryker muttered, subconsciously tightening his hold on Ellie.

"Luck can run out you know."

"Quiet."

Ellie giggled and fell back asleep.

* * *

This chapter wasn't originally going to be this long but I couldn't really find a suitable place to split it. Oh well XD

Shout out to the guest reviewer who came close to predicting the events of this chapter =)

And **damn** Ed.

Now if you'll excuse me I'll be 'gasming while watching E3 (Sony in two hours!)

Thanks for reading and reviewing =)


	11. Keeping Distance

Chapter 11: Keeping Distance

Ed and Ellie had kept their distance after the incident in the forest. Joel advised that Ellie stay away from Ed for a while and was surprised when she easily complied. He thought she would protest staying away from her father but she was complacent. He admit that he should feel pleased that for once that Ellie listened to him, but he was left with a lump in his stomach.

What hurt him even more was that Ellie had become more distant again. Not as distant as she was at Salt Lake, but distant. She didn't complain about school too much and barely read her comic books. When she came back from school, she went straight up to her room, only coming down for dinner then immediately going back. On the days she didn't have school, she stayed in bed all day. Joel brought her breakfast, lunch and dinner. Sometimes Joel would sit with her and the two would wind up talking about what's going on in the settlement, reminisce about what they've gone through, Joel opening up more about his past, the past in general, the list would go on.

However, when he had to work, Joel felt uncomfortable leaving her all by herself (Callus could only do so much). So as much he did not like it, he requested that Ryker come over and keep her company while he wasn't home. But Joel warned that if he came home and finds the door closed and Ryker in there, he would not hesitate to "make him shit out his teeth".

There was a close call when Joel came home at about ten at night and saw Ryker and Ellie fast sleep in her bed, tangled up in one another, fully clothed thank goodness. They slept on their sides, Ellie's back facing the doorway while Ryker's back faced the window. Ryker held Ellie close to his chest, her head directly under his chin.

Though it may have been an unintentional move, Joel perceived it as a smart one. Even though Ellie could be in the direct line of fire, if there was any noise, Ryker could wake up and immediately see if anyone were in the room or outside the door, then act accordingly to keep Ellie safe. In this world, there was no such thing as a light sleeper.

That fact alone may have been the true saving grace for Ryker. At that exact moment when Joel walked in, the only thing going for him was that the door was _open_.

Joel cursed loopholes and let it slide.

Again, for now.

**~T~L~O~U~**

The next day was pretty much the same deal. Ellie and Ryker got off from school, stopped by the diner for lunch and went to hers and Joel's house. They munched away at the leftovers that was in the fridge, played poker (which was an even match between the two), before retiring up to Ellie's bedroom (with the door OPEN).

Ellie lied on her side, facing Ryker, but was engrossed in her comic. Ryker lied beside her on his back, with his hands behind his head looking out the window.

Every once in a while, Ryker would steal a few glances at Ellie. What really caught his attention was the scar on her eyebrow. It wasn't abnormal for anyone, no matter how old, to have a few battle scars. But every scar had a story.

"Can I ask you something, Ellie?"

"You just did, but go ahead." Ellie looked up from her comic and looked directly at Ryker which made his heart skip a few beats. He recomposed himself and continued.

"How did you get this?" Ryker gently rubbed the scar in Ellie's eyebrow. He assumed that it may have come from an encounter with a hunter. It seemed far too clean and precise for it to be from any infected and given her height, it wouldn't make sense unless the infected in question was a teen and knew the exact way it wanted to attack her.

"Oh, I was a bit of a scrapper in my younger days." Ellie laughed a little.

"Your younger days? You're fourteen."

"Fifteen, actually." Ellie corrected.

"Excuse me, miss adult." Ryker continued rubbing the scar. "So…how?"

"This was back when I was at the Military prep school back at the Boston QZ. These three assholes were trying to steal my stuff and I wasn't having it." Ellie said with a slight smile. "So I punched one guy and went after the other two. They grabbed me and smashed my head onto the edge of a table."

"Damn girl." Ryker muttered. "What happened to them?"

"They got kicked out and from what I heard, they became smugglers. But they got infected, dead now. Recognized their bodies in an old building, outside the QZ with a whole bunch of infected roaming around."

It seemed like there were only two ways to leave this world. At the hands of a hostile or at the bite of an infected. It was very rare for there to be any other.

"Pretty badass, don't you think?"

"I did, until I realized your true foe was a table. You sure it's safe for you to be around them? I should tell Joel to wrap those edges with some padding, bubble wrap should do it." Ryker joked.

"Oh fuck off." Ellie smacked his arm. "And what the fuck is bubble wrap?"

Ryker only laughed in response. He also caught sight of the medical tape wrapped around her forearm.

"What about this?" Ryker pointed to the medical tape around her arm. Since the weather was just now warming up for shorter sleeves, Ryker never noticed it.

"Umm, shotgun. I got grazed by a shotgun." Ellie lied.

"Recent?"

"Kind of, when Joel and I were on our way here, we got jumped by some bandits. I was covering Joel him when one of them nicked me."

"Still hurt?"

"Sometimes, I get a burning sensation, but it's nothing serious."

Ryker's ears perked up upon hearing the door downstairs open.

Joel's home.

"That's Joel." Ryker quickly got up from the bed to retrieve his shoes.

"I'm sure he'd let you spend the night. If anything, we could just pretend to be asleep."

"Yeah I'm pretty sure Joel wanted to pick me up and throw me out the window last night. Kind of surprised he didn't." Ryker responded, while slipping on his shoes. "Besides, didn't you say luck can run out?"

Ellie rolled her eyes. "Let me walk you out so Joel's doesn't literally pick up and throw you out." Ellie got up and followed Ryker downstairs, Callus following right behind them.

"Hi Joel." Ryker said nervously, stopping in front him but leaving a comfortable amount of space between them. Just in case.

"Evening." Joel drawled out. "Hey baby girl." Joel outstretched his arm to give Ellie a hug. "Any reason you're down here?"

"Thought I'd walk Ryker out so you don't kill him on the way out." Ellie said.

Joel was immediately suspicious and raised a brow. "Why?"

"Because you're Joel." Ellie playfully poked his side.

Joel was still suspicious and glared at Ryker. He was shaking, but that was normal. Ellie didn't look like she had something to hide either.

So Ryker lives to see another day.

"Alright then, good night Ryker. Say hi to Judy for me."

"Will do." Ryker said. "Bye Callus!" Callus barked in response.

Ryker walked over to the door, his heart rate quickening when he walked by Joel, opened it and left.

"Y'all went to bed early. It's only 7:30." Joel remarked.

"Couch got too uncomfortable and Callus commandeered your bed. Didn't look like he wanted to share either."

Joel shook his head in slight amusement and looked at Callus who was sitting innocently in the kitchen. If he didn't know any better he would say that Callus is trying to set Ellie and Ryker up.

"_Damn it Ed…"_

Joel and Ed weren't on speaking terms. Although today they had to communicate while working on the bar it was only that. Just construction. Joel could see the hurt in Ed's eyes but wasn't ready to let him get close to Ellie. Not until he was sure Ellie was safe around him.

"So…" Ellie interrupted Joel's thoughts.

"What's up?" Joel led them to a couch to sit down. He kept his arm around her shoulders.

"I ran into Ed today."

"I told you not be around him." Joel responded.

"I didn't talk to him or anything. Ryker and I were heading over here after school but we stopped by the diner. Our eyes just sort of met and that's pretty much it." Ellie said.

"What's on your mind?" Joel could sense that Ellie had something more to say.

"I don't know. There's just something really weird about him."

"You think it's something dangerous?"

Ellie nodded. "I feel like it had something to do with the hunters that jumped us."

"How do you mean?" Joel asked.

"Those hunters were nothing like the ones we've encountered. Even David's group wasn't as fucked up as they were. Something about those three was more than off. Forget having a few screws loose, those guys don't even have screws to begin with."

Joel's eyes widened at Ellie's casual mention of David, but didn't comment.

"They knew his name. This guy, Bray, called him Ed-boy."

It was one thing to know a name, but to know a nickname?

That's too close to be a coincidence.

"I don't know right now." Ellie shrugged her shoulders. She hated not knowing.

"So what you're saying is that you have your doubts?" Joel asked.

"Him as my father, no. He and I practically twins." Ellie said. "But I feel like he's not who he says he is. He didn't come from where he said he did."

Joel hated seeing Ellie like this. But Joel couldn't help but think the same way. Ed was a nice man, no doubt about it. The fact that he brutally murdered a man to protect Ellie, his daughter, was honorable. Joel would have done the same in a heartbeat.

But it would seem that even the nicest man had a dark side. Joel believes that Ed may be trying to get away from it, but it would seem that based on that incident, his dark side was catching up to him.

"Do you still want to be around him?" Joel asked softly.

"Well, yeah he's my father-"

Joel cut her off. "No, no. It shouldn't be out of obligation. You should feel that you want to be around him, like you are with me."

"Well how do you know I'm not with you out an obligation?" Ellie countered.

"Do you feel obliged to be around me?"

"Well…you keep me safe and make sure I'm always okay and happy." Ellie responded. "And in turn, I keep you safe and happy too."

Joel nodded slightly. "Well, I'm not going to deny it baby girl. You've made me the happiest I've ever been in 20 years." Joel said. "But I don't think you're doing this out of obligation. And neither am I."

'Then what is it?" Ellie asked.

Joel was about to answer when Callus whined from the kitchen.

"Poor fella must be hungry." Joel said. He was about to get up when he spotted the somber look in Ellie's eyes. He cursed Callus for having poor timing, forcing them to break up a conversation like this. Maybe they'd return to this at another time but it definitely would be different.

Joel grabbed her chin and pulled it forward, gently kissing her forehead, then pulling her into a little hug. He rubbed her shoulder before standing up and going to the kitchen to feed Callus.

And in that moment, Ellie got the answer to her question.

**~T~L~O~U~**

Ed was a mess. Plain and simple.

He couldn't sleep, he could barely eat, and to top it all off, his collarbone was killing him.

He contemplated picking up the syringe and giving himself another dose but he wasn't sure if it was safe yet. He still had to work that kink out. But one dose per bite usually did the trick anyway. Besides, he had to keep it for emergencies anyway.

Instead, he went to the medical center to get it examined. They were taken aback that he had an undocumented recent bite mark and panic quickly rose, but lucky for him, Lester just happened to be there as well (for a sprained ankle) and vouched for him. Once it was cleared, they gave him some antibiotics and examined his arm just to be safe. It would turn out that he had a small stress fracture in his shoulder. Since it was minor and almost fully healed, there was no need for a sling but Ed was advised to stay away from any heavy lifting for a few more days. However, he was cleared to continue guard duty and his shifts at the diner.

After finishing up at the medical center, he decided that he shouldn't punish his stomach anymore so he went to the diner to get some well deserved and much needed lunch. Today's lunch special was barbecue; ribs, hot dogs, hamburgers &amp; cheeseburgers, and cool, fresh lemonade as the refreshment. Perfect for getting everyone in the summer mood.

Ed filled his plate with everything they were serving and got a tall glass of lemonade. When he was sitting at the table, he spotted Ellie and Ryker sitting and having lunch as well. Ryker must have been telling her one hell of a joke because she was laughing hard.

"_She seems happy…"_ Ed thought to himself.

When she was trying to calm down from her intense laughter, she and Ed had locked eyes. He wanted so badly to go over there to give her a hug and apologize. But Joel told him not to be around Ellie for a while and most likely told Ellie the same. He flashed a sad smile before returning to his food.

Ed wished that day didn't happen. But not only with scaring Ellie but he wished he had never ran into those three. They knew where he was. After months of hiding, they found him. He prayed that the rest of them wouldn't find out.

And if they did…it would be a lose-lose for everyone.

If he ran away, they would just go after Ellie. They were the same after all.

But if he stayed, darkness would come onto the settlement. And that wasn't fair. Every single person has fought hard to get away from the darkness. He didn't want to be the cause of the misery and suffering of everyone else.

But either way it would come.

Ed knew he had to find some way around it.

Before it was too late.

* * *

Filler/Character Development I guess. Don't worry, these two will mend things soon :3

Just a minor note, in chapter 10 a small detail was added towards the beginning so this one could make more sense. Again, it's minor so don't worry too much about it^^

And I'd just like to get something straight here. Look, I'm open to all types of reviews; suggestions, criticisms/critiques, etc. I even let the ones that just say "update" or "awesome" or any other one/two worders slide. But recently, I got a "review" asking if I had an Instragram account. That is **not** a review. That gives me NO idea of how you think the story is going at all. It may not be your intention but it gives me the vibe that you don't care at all and that's a blow to my motivation. It's one thing to read and to not leave a review (which is completely fine by me) but reading and leaving a useless review is just not acceptable in my book.

For future reference, all of my other social media outlets are linked on my **profile** so please refer to that or send me a PM to ask instead of wasting a review, especially a milestone one like 50th. Thank you.

As for the rest of you, thank you all for your continued support. You all rock^^ *hugs all around*


	12. Suspicions

Chapter 12: Suspicions

Ed was up doing some housekeeping before he had to go to his afternoon guard shift at the southern gates. He organized his books and papers, put his dirty clothing in a bag to be washed later. And understandably so, Ellie was constantly on his mind. But a new worry has been born. It was one thing to worry if whether or not their relationship had been severed beyond repair but now there was the true state of her safety.

When he initially heard about Jackson, he was sure that Ellie was safe and that there was nothing to worry about anymore, as long as they remained within the walls of course. Sure there would be bandit and hunter attacks from time to time as well as some from the infected but she was free to breathe easier than if he she was outside the walls. But now Ed had his doubts. Would she be truly safe here?

Those men he and Ellie encountered were just the beginning. The rest were a cunning bunch. Ed has been around them long enough to learn their habits, their methods and it disgusted him. Stable was the furthest word in the language to describe this group. Unstable didn't fare so well either. He chose to leave all that behind once he learned their true nature. Their despicable plans…

That was before. After mulling it over more he realized he was stuck here. If he left, they would just come after Ellie and lord knows Ed couldn't live with that on his consciousness. He had to stay. For the sake of Ellie and everyone else here.

He had to find a way…

_Thump._

Ed was brought out his thoughts by a sharp noise coming from upstairs. He immediately assumed the worst. He grabbed his pistol and slowly made his way upstairs, listening closely for anymore noises. There was nothing out of place in the hallway. He checked the bathroom and his closet and found the same result. He turned kept his pistol close, his finger on the trigger as he approached his bedroom. The door was slightly ajar just as he left it. He opened the door and pointed his gun, nearly pulling the trigger.

But then as quickly as he brought it up, he dropped it down and turned the safety back on.

A familiar face was standing before him. She wore a gray hood that covered her face well but Ed knew who she was. There was only one other person he trusted that knew he was here.

"How did you-?" Ed began to question, tucking his pistol in the back of his pants.

"That's not important right now." The woman said. "I'm sure you already know they're around here?"

Ed sighed. "How could I not? They found me and her outside this settlement not too long ago."

"Her too?"

Ed nodded his head.

"You need to be careful. They may have already gotten through here." The woman said. "And your security here sucks major ass by the way."

Ed sighed. "I'll talk to Tommy about making security a little tighter. The few raids we've been having are becoming a bit too close for comfort now. There have been talks of making the electric fence surround the whole settlement rather in key areas."

The woman raised a brow. "What electric fence?"

Ed was confused. "Yeah we have an electric fence for the weaker areas of the settlement."

"You have a fence alright. But the way I see it, it ain't electrifying anything anytime soon." The woman crossed his arms.

Ed's eyes widened at the realization. "Oh fuck."

"You need to tell Tommy right now." The woman said.

"Yeah no shit." Ed responded. "But why are you here?"

"Just making sure you knew and that you're still drawing breath." The woman uncrossed her arms and shuffled her feet. "How's she doing by the way? Is she okay?"

"She's perfect. No sign of turning." Ed replied.

The woman nodded her head in satisfaction. "Anyway, I'll come back as often as I can to help you out."

Ed shook his head. "No, you need to be in Mt. Vernon. If they find that place we'll have a serious issue here."

The woman waved him off. "Relax, Tulu, Laina, and Dru are guarding the place."

"Those three can only do so much, you know."

The woman sighed and rolled her eyes. "Fine. I'll just send Jackie over then."

"Better. You should try giving Mara a test run too."

The woman nodded in understanding.

"Now get out of here and be careful, kid."

"I'm not a kid y'know. I'll 18 soon. An adult by the rules of the past, apparently."

Ed chuckled. "Anyone more than 10 years younger than me is a kid to me."

"Even her?"

Ed paused and looked at the ground. "Especially her." He muttered.

The woman turned around and walked towards the window, climbing out of it. "Watch yourself okay?"

"You too." Ed replied. With that the woman jumped out of his window to make her way out.

Ed sighed. Things were not just getting any better. But first things first, he had to let Tommy know, if he didn't know already that the electric fences were out of commission. He grabbed his rifle and walkie-talkie and made his way out of the house.

**~T~L~O~U~**

Ellie sat her in history class, doodling on the desk. She used to sit in the back, which made it easier to sleep, talk to Ryker, hell even sneak out of the damn class altogether. But eventually Lana, the teacher, caught on and forced her to sit in the front, very much to her dismay.

At least the topic for this week wasn't as boring as the others. This week, it was all about World War I.

Lana snapped her fingers in Ellie's face, bringing her out of her daze, replacing it with an irritated glare

"If you don't learn it Ellie, it will be doomed to repeat itself." Lana said, in her Russian accent.

Ellie rolled her eyes. "Not really sure how I can start a whole world war, Lana."

"Anything can start a war Ellie. As you can see all it took was a right bullet in the right person to cause all this bloodshed."

Ellie cocked a brow but sensed that Lana had more to say.

"One person dead, a whole nation is angered and the rest of the world is pulled in." Lana began pacing back and forth.

"Why does that happen though?" Ellie asked.

"Friendships and alliances. They're a good thing to have but they're a curse as well." Lana turned around to sit on her desk. Ellie heard a distinct wolf whistle come from the back of the classroom. She wondered if Lana heard it.

"As a matter of fact, friendships are a beautiful thing. It's amazing how even though you aren't of the same blood with someone but the bond between the two of you could be stronger than the bond of those of the same blood." Lana said.

"I'd like to form a bond with her…" Ellie heard come from the back of the classroom. Again.

This is why Ellie didn't understand boys sometimes.

The male population was always interested during history class. They were focused on Lana, just for other reasons. Despite being well in her fifties, she looked as youthful as the best of them. She had long blond hair which was kept in a bun a majority of the days and had brown eyes that commanded you give her your attention.

The clothes she wore were as simple as they came, consisting of a blue shirt, black jeans, and boots. But the male population would agree that they captured her "assets" well. She had a very curvy shape.

"But at the same time when that bond strengthens, you eventually become one. Two different halves of one whole. And you stick by each other, no matter what. Their accomplishments can become your accomplishments. But at the same time, their problems can become your problems."

"Never thought of it that way." Ellie commented.

Lana smirked. "And you said history was boring." Lana stood up from her desk. "Well that's the end of our class today, children. I'll see you tomorrow." She dismissed them and walked out of the room, much to the sadness of_ some_ of the students.

"I'll never get tired of that view…" One of the students (most likely male) commented.

Ellie rolled her eyes in disgust.

"That's probably the first time I've ever seen you interested in history." Ryker came up by her.

"Well she caught my attention." Ellie replied.

"Speak for yourself…" Ryker looked at the group of boys in the back who were giving high fives. He shook his head. "Come on, let's get out of here."

Ellie was more than happy to get out of the classroom. Being the only female in this class sucked.

"So what's the agenda for the rest of the day?" Ryker asked.

"Nothing much really. Probably going to lend a hand or two on the bar." Ellie responded.

Ryker stopped walking and cocked a brow. "What has gotten into you?"

"What do you mean?"

"First you've shown the most interest in history since ever and now you're going to give a hand at the bar?" Ryker said, disbelief lacing his voice.

"Is there something wrong with that?" Ellie said with a chuckle.

Ryker shook his head. Today would be one of those odd days it would seem.

"I just got to make a quick stop at home to let Joel know."

"_And she's being obedient to Joel?"_ Ryker thought to himself.

"What about you? Do you have anything planned?" Ellie asked.

"Going to help my mom out with the garden. Tomatoes are really coming in now." Ryker responded. "Speaking of which I gotta head home. I'll see you tomorrow?"

"Yeah sure." Ellie stopped walking and stood in front of Ryker, holding her arms out for hug.

Ryker was taken aback but did not hesitate to hug her. The two embraced for a while before breaking apart. They waved at each other before walking in opposite directions.

Ellie's behavior did strike Ryker as odd but everyone has their odd days right? Maybe Joel would one day be the same. Maybe one day he'll act a bit kinder instead of giving him the "if you even breathe the wrong way, I'll end you" look.

But Ryker wouldn't push his luck just yet.

**~T~L~O~U~**

Ellie eventually made it to the front steps of hers and Joel's home. She opened the door and was about announce that she was home but stopped once she saw Tommy and Joel. They were sitting in the dining room, both of their bodies tense.

"Ellie! Oh thank God." Joel immediately got up give Ellie a hug. He hugged her tightly before kneeling down in front of her, scanning over her features to see if anything was out of place.

"Are you alright? Are you hurt?" Joel asked, breathing out a sigh of relief when he didn't spy any external injuries.

Ellie's confusion grew. "I'm fine, never better. What's going on?"

"There was a bit of a security breach." Tommy said. "Electric fences broke down, leaving us wide open to anything and anyone."

Ellie's eyes widened. "Whoa, seriously? Did anything happen?"

"So far we haven't heard anything. There have been no indications of an attack and everything looks as it was yesterday." Tommy responded. "But a lot of the folks are spooked, already jumping to their conclusions on the situation."

This was when Ellie caught the worried look on Joel's face. Ellie hated math but it wasn't hard for her to put two and two together.

"People think Ed had something to do with it?" Ellie asked softly.

"Word got out about the attack north of here not too long ago. The air thickened with the rumor that Ed was associated with them and that him supposedly killing them was just a ruse to keep eyes off him." Tommy said.

"We're not jumping to conclusions here, but the settlement is always wary of newcomers. We were no exception, believe it or not." Joel said. "He's just a prime suspect is all."

"It's not like the electric fence short circuited or anything. We immediately went to the fuse box that regulates all of them and found them all in the down position. Meaning that someone turned them off. Those things stay on through rain or shine, or unless lightning knocks them out." Tommy said.

Ellie nodded her head in understanding.

"But why? Why would he shut the fences off, IF he had a reason to do so?" Ellie asked.

"To let someone in? We don't really know at this point." Tommy rubbed the back of his neck. "I know y'all are a bit wary of Ed ever since that incident up north so I trust you two to keep an eye on him."

"You know him Tommy. Do you think he would do something like this or have something planned?" Joel asked.

"I only knew him as a firefly. Don't know much about the aftermath of that saga." Tommy said.

"I wanna talk to him." Ellie spoke up.

"That may be a good idea." Joel responded.

"He's at his guard shift right now. I'll tell him to stop by here when he's done."

Joel and Ellie nodded their heads.

"Let me know if anything new comes up." Tommy walked out of their house.

"You feel ready to forgive him?" Joel asked.

"Yeah. He was trying to protect me that day. I just got scared. I wanna move past that." Ellie said.

Joel nodded.

"Then never mind to helping out at the bar." Ellie said.

Joel cocked a brow. "You were going to help with the bar?"

"Hey, they caught my attention when they said there was going to be an arcade room. I wanted to help them set it up and make sure that all of them were in working condition."

"You mean demo them?"

"Potato, potahto." Ellie shrugged and sat on the couch, picking up her comic from the table.

Joel laughed and shook his head, deciding that he should get started on dinner.

"Hey where's Callus?" Ellie asked, not removing her eyes from the comic.

"He's sleeping upstairs. Neighbors told me that he was barking for the better part of the day but I guess he eventually tuckered himself out." Joel responded.

Ellie nodded, returning her full attention to the comic book.

Callus was upstairs in Ellie's bedroom but he was no longer asleep. The urge to chew had grown but had enough training to know that shoes, curtains and any cloth of the sort were off limits. Instead, Callus chewed away on a trinket that had fallen off Ellie's dresser. The green trinket stood no match for the canine's teeth, the pendant had become severely disfigured and the chain was in pieces, some of it being wrongly digested in Callus' stomach.

All that remained was a small marking on the pendant. It was jumbled and most of it was faded due to the heavy amounts of saliva but if held up at the right angle, the words could be made out.

_Edward Williams – 066_

**~T~L~O~U~**

Once his afternoon shift was over, Ed stopped by at home to drop his rifle and freshen up a bit. Six hours in the hot sun accompanied by unforgiving humidity did not do him any wonders. Anywhere else, he would have just dealt with it and keep moving. Ensuring survival was high on the list whereas keeping clean and fresh was at the very bottom.

Ed cleaned up and changed into a light blue t-shirt, black cargo pants, and black sneakers. He tucked his pistol in the back pocket of his pants and attached the walkie talkie at his front before walking out. Tommy had informed everyone of the security scare and advised that everyone keep some sort of weapon and their walkie-talkie on them at all times for the time being. Ed already knew about the security scare prior to Tommy announcing it but he played dumb. He was well aware that all eyes were on him.

Ed was aware all the people whispering as he passed by, the dirty and somewhat fearful glances they would throw in his direction. It was understandable that when an out of the ordinary event occurs, newcomers tended to be the immediate suspects. People were wary of him when he first came but did eventually come around, but this event set him back a couple of steps. All he could do is hope that things stay quiet and eventually people could laugh at this eventually.

But it was rare that anything occurred that way.

As he walked to Joel's and Ellie's house Ed wondered what they wanted to talk about. He hoped that Ellie would finally forgive him (or at least thicken the ice he was currently walking on) and they could rekindle their father-daughter relationship.

"_Moment of truth…"_ Ed knocked on the door.

A few seconds passed by before the door opened with Joel standing on the other side.

"Ed." Joel greeted.

"Evening." Ed said softly. It brought him some relief that Joel didn't have any of the glares that Ed would encounter, especially his trademark 'Joel' glare, that let you know that your chances of seeing tomorrow have decreased significantly.

Joel opened the door to allow Ed to walk in. Ed nodded and stepped inside, spotting Ellie on the floor in the living room playing with Callus. Callus saw Ed and immediately went over to greet him.

"Hi Ed." Ellie said softly, standing up to sit on the couch.

It still stung that Ellie still didn't call him 'dad' but that wasn't important right now. Ed shook off his nerves and walked over to Ellie and knelt down in front of her, gently taking her hand and holding it. He looked into her eyes and spoke.

"Ellie, words can't describe how sorry I am. I never meant to scare you that way and it was never my intention to hurt you."

"I understand. I think part of the reason I ran like that is because…well…it wasn't so much I was afraid of you, but I was afraid of myself."

Ed tilted his head in confusion.

"You said, you _promised_ that I wasn't going to turn. You were bitten three times and lived to tell the tale. But when I saw you just acting like…well pretty much a bloater I got scared. I thought it was going to happen to me."

Ed closed his eyes as he remembered that day. It was definitely one of his darker days. One of them.

"Then I breathe life back into that promise. I promise you that nothing will ever happen to you. What happened to me stemmed from…certain circumstances that I wasn't aware of then. But I'm aware now and I have control. That event will be nothing but a minor setback in the past. Nothing less." Ed said firmly.

Ellie stared into his eyes, searching for anything that could give her any doubt. There was a hint but it wasn't enough to force her to challenge his words.

"Okay." Ellie said.

Ed smiled and pulled Ellie into a hug. The two of them hugged tightly before breaking apart.

"But now you have to promise something for me." Ed said.

"What's that?"

"Promise me that if in any way you feel strange or that you're changing, come to me immediately and I'll take care of it for you."

Ellie nodded. "I promise."

Ed breathed out a sigh of relief, feeling like a large weight had been removed from his shoulders.

"Is everything okay between you and me?" Ed asked Joel. Joel hadn't said a word, just leaning against the wall with his arms crossed, watching the scene before him silently

"If she's alright with you, then you're alright with me." Joel said.

"Sorry for everything man." Ed said.

"Sorry I nearly knocked your nose off your face." Joel said with a smile.

Ed chuckled. He playfully ruffled Ellie's hair.

"I see so much of Anna in you." Ed said softly, looking into Ellie's eyes. "She would have been proud of you."

"I'm making sure that I earn it."

Ed smiled and stood up. "Well, I best be on my way. I've got the night off and no work tomorrow. That was always a golden combination back in the day."

Joel nodded his head in agreement. He wished he had those days back then. "Why don't you stay a while? Dinner's just about ready." Joel said, making his way to the kitchen.

"I don't want to impose."_ "More like push it."_

"It's no problem at all. With Ellie's higher than average appetite I always make more than necessary." Joel said.

Ellie flipped him the bird, making Joel and Ed laugh.

"You want to hang out tomorrow Ed? We can take Callus for a walk." Ellie asked.

Ed looked over at Joel and smiled when Joel nodded his approval.

"I'd like that sweetheart." Ed said.

"Awesome!" Ellie exclaimed, making her to the dining room, Callus hot on her heels.

Ed removed his gun and walkie-talkie and placed it on the table in the living room before following Ellie and Callus. When Ellie sat down, Callus turned his attention to Ed. Ed knelt down to allow Callus to greet him. Ed rubbed the top of his head and face. Callus licked his cheek and sat back, panting with his tongue out and mouth wide open. And Ed would be lying if he said there wasn't a hint of a smile on that face.

Despite being a precious one, the sight caused Ed to frown slightly.

"During that walk, I think it would be a good idea to clean Callus' teeth too." Ed said. "Marianne should have something for this."

"Is something wrong with him?" Ellie asked, digging into her food.

"He's still got those pearly whites, just tainted by all this green."

* * *

I have risen from the dead lol. A million and three apologies for the long wait. Life and video games happened _ XD It wasn't due to the message I had in the previous chapter. If I offended you I'm partially sorry too but I just wanted to put that out there before it got out of hand.

How are you all feeling about Ed? Any change? I see a good amount of you don't trust Ed or think he's bad news which is understandable. And the plot thickens...

Thanks for reading (OMG 4000 HITS?! MY HEART) and for the reviews =)


	13. Walking a Fine Line

Chapter 13: Walking a Fine Line

After that day it would seem that things had gone back to normal, or as normal as they could be. Ellie and Ed had mended their relationship and though there was still a competition for Ellie's affection, Joel and Ed gone along just fine.

Fast forward to about a week later, during the settlement's summer bonfire barbecue, Ed and Joel sat down and talked a deep talk. Joel found it odd how he was able to open up so easily to Ed tell him about the darker points of his life whereas Ellie was just beginning to receive half the information.

In turn, Joel learned a bit more about Ed as well. Joel learned that Ed was born in Bronx, New York and that he's actually half British on his father's side. He went to New York University and graduated with two degrees; a Masters in Neural Science and a Bachelors in Biology.

Afterwards they shared any humorous anecdotes of the past or any rare ones that may have happened recently.

A comfortable silence soon fell between the two and Joel took the time to check on Ellie. He noticed Ellie and Ryker sitting across from each other and it would seem that Ryker was teaching her another card game. He saw the way Ryker would look at Ellie when she wasn't looking at him. He knew that look well and silently growled.

Ed heard it and turned his head to see what Joel was looking at, before chuckling a little.

"Ah, let them live is what I say." Ed said.

"I used to believe that too, until I became a father at sixteen." Joel shot back.

"Have a bit more faith in Ellie. Don't think she's particularly ready for that kind of business yet. And I highly believe she knows she's not ready either. Wants to make up for lost time anyway."

Joel cocked his head, silently asking him what he meant.

"Well think of it this way. Way back when we had all the time in the world to be a child as long as we wanted. A good 18 years was the fair number I think. But in turn there was also this pressure for us to grow up as quickly as possible. As soon as you hit your teens years, you had to begin thinking and worrying about your future and that shit would get so convoluted you wind up growing up faster than planned." Ed paused, taking a sip of his cider.

"Especially nowadays, there's no chance for them to really act like kids. Second they popped out, they had to be grown. No time to chase after butterflies or gaze up at the stars and wonder if anything was staring back. No real chance to explore that childhood wonder. This is a place of second chances in so many ways. Being here, they can sort of let that guard down and really explore that skipped part of their lives. Forget about being an adult for a while."

As much as he didn't like it, Joel knew that Ed had a reasonable point. Maybe he should ease up ever so slightly when it came to Ryker and Ellie interacting. As naïve as she could be at times, Ellie was a smart and sharp girl. If she picked up that Ryker had negative intentions towards her she would turn her back on him in a flash, maybe even put him in his place.

And if anything, Joel was sharper than Ryker. He'll cut through him, literally, if he has to.

"Fair enough." Joel muttered, turning his head away from Ryker and Ellie.

Over by Ryker and Ellie, they were playing their tenth round of blackjack. Since Ellie wasn't as proficient at this game like poker (which Ryker learned about the hard way), Ryker taught her and she caught on quick. This round, Ellie was playing as the dealer.

"What do you think they're talking about?" Ellie asked, gesturing at Joel and Ed.

"Probably reminiscing about the good old days." Ryker replied with a little laugh. "You know how they can get."

"Yeah." Ellie laughed. "I noticed that they, your mom and her sister are getting pretty close too."

Earlier in the week, another small group of survivors had stumbled onto the settlement. One of them happened to be Judy's older half sister, coincidentally enough, named Sara. She looked to be around the same age of Joel, slightly taller than Ellie, had soft brown eyes, and her light brown almost blond hair was styled in a complimenting pixie cut.

Though he feverishly denies it, it didn't take rocket science to see that Joel was immediately smitten.

"Yeah, I've noticed that too. My mom and I joke about it sometimes. We've already placed bets on who will make the first move." Ryker said, replacing her

"Good for him. He deserves to be happy." Ellie said. "So what will it be? Staying or hitting?"

Ellie's hand consisted of an unknown card and a seven of diamonds while Ryker's consisted of an ace and a six, giving him 7 or 17. Ryker confidentially decided that he would keep going. The odds were still good.

"Hit me."

Ellie took a card from the deck and placed it by Ryker's cards. Ryker silently prayed that it would a 4 but became dismayed when he saw that he would be one short, a three of clubs being placed by his hand, pushing him to 10 or 20.

He could keep going.

"Hit me."

Ellie nodded and took another card from the deck and placed it by his cards.

A ten of diamonds. He was stuck at 20.

"Wanna press your luck?" Ellie smirked.

Ryker rolled his eyes at her. "I think I'm staying where I am."

Ellie nodded. It was her turn. She flipped over her other card to reveal a seven of heart. Her hand stood at 14.

As Ryker told her, things could get risky once they go past 11. If she decided to keep going the next card could keep her alive but tip the odds further against her or could cause her to go over.

But then again, that was nothing new. The odds were against her for a majority of her life. The only difference here was that she wouldn't die if she lost.

She went for it.

Ellie pulled a card from the deck and hoped for the best.

She turned the card over and slammed it next to hers. It was a seven of spades, pushing her hand to the coveted number of 21.

"Damn girl!" Ryker said, his eyes widening.

"Boosh! Bow down to your queen of blackjack!" Ellie said, taking a little bow.

Ryker rolled his eyes and shook his head in amusement. This girl was a bottomless pit of entertainment.

The two of them played one more round which ended up with them both tying at 19. The two decided to put the cards away and opted to lie down and stargaze. The stars and moon were out in full force tonight, there was even talk that there would be meteor shower sometime later in the night. The two of them fell into a comfortable silence as they gazed at the sky; their minds beginning to play connect the dots with the stars.

"Do you ever look up at the sky and wonder if anything might be looking back?" Ryker asked.

Ellie shrugged. "I really never really took the time to look at the stars, half the time I was never really aware they were there." Ellie chuckled softly.

"But looking at them now…what do you think?"

Ellie fell silent as she continued looking up at the sky. Her mind began to wander…

"_Henry says that they've moved on. That they're with their families. Like in heaven. Do you think that's true?"_

Ellie took a deep breath. She's really been bouncing back and forth with this topic. Lately she's been leaning more towards not believing but over time she's slowly progressed back to being in the middle.

"I really go back and forth." Ellie said. "Right now I'm kind of in the middle. Do you?"

"When I was little, my mom used to tell me about this place, a kingdom. A kingdom in the stars. And that it's a kingdom for old souls who have left this place behind. And there, there's no more pain and suffering. Everything's peaceful and pure. Nothing but white happiness and freedom for eternity." Ryker said.

"But at the same time, right below us, there's a kingdom in the fire. It's also a place of old souls but it's different. There's nothing but fire and agony and those who are despicable enough go there. And there, they suffer the same pain and suffering that they did in their former life. They're constantly looking for some escape but there is none, and there never will be. Forever trapped in the flames."

"You think David is down there?" Ellie asked abruptly without giving it a second thought.

"He's probably king of the place by now." Ryker scoffed.

They fell silent again, continuing to gaze at the stars.

"Do you think we'll go there? The kingdom among the stars?" Ellie asked softly.

"I go back and forth." Ryker said. "I mean I like to believe so. Everything I've done was just to stay alive. Don't think I should suffer an eternity for that, right?"

"I guess not." Ellie said. She shifted over and laid her head of Ryker's chest and hugged his waist. Ryker leaned down but thought nothing of it. He raised his hand and gently placed it on top of Ellie's head.

"You know if you squint hard enough you can sort of make out a clicker." Ellie said, laughing a little.

Ryker laughed and rolled his eyes.

For the first time in a while, Ellie was nearing closer to the other side of spectrum.

**~T~L~O~U~**

It was an abnormally scorching hot day in June. The official start of summer was a little over a week away but it would seem that Mother Nature had other plans. The sweltering sun was high in the sky and there was not a cloud in sight that could provide the occasional relief. The humidity was high, making it hard to breathe if you moved too much

But there was still a settlement to provide for.

Ed was out hunting with Lester, Sara, and Joel. So far they were only capable of catching some rabbits and even a raccoon, which was courtesy of Sara.

"You're a pretty good shot with that." Joel remarked, pointing to her rifle.

"Kinda have to be to live in this world. You wouldn't believe the amount of idiots I've met that have literally shot themselves in the eye."

Joel chuckled softly.

Ed and Lester walked not too far behind them and Lester knowingly nudged Ed.

"Is it too late to get in on that pool?" Lester whispered.

Ed chuckled "Should still be open, place your bet with Judy."

By now, a good chunk of the settlement was in on who would make the first move between Joel and Sara. Both sides were just about even. But the two people in question were none the wiser.

Ed glanced over and thought he saw a strange figure within the trees. It looked like the figure was dressed in all black; black hoodie, black pants, and black boots (a suicide mission in weather like this). The hoodie covered the face well and Ed could tell that it wasn't _her._

It was definitely someone else.

Probably sensing that it had been spotted, the figure quickly turned around and took off. Ed was tempted to pursue it, but the circumstances were against him. He had a chance to get in even more trouble, which he could not afford at this point. These days, he was walking the fine line between friend and foe.

Not to mention the weather too. He wouldn't dare run in this weather if he wanted to see tomorrow.

Ed had no choice but to let it go for now.

Back at the settlement, Ellie was over at Ryker's house, sitting on the porch in the shade. Today, Judy would be picking out the tomatoes she's been diligently growing the past couple of months. They were finally red and ripe for the picking.

"Have you ever eaten tomatoes before?" Ryker asked.

"Yeah but they were soggy and disgusting. Had tinges of green on some days, if you know what I mean." Ellie scrunched up her face in disgust.

"Well I promise that these are far from shitty, Ellie." Judy came up to the pair with a small basket full of ripe tomatoes. "Here, try'em for yourself." Judy presented the basket to them so they could take their pick. Ryker didn't need to be told twice as he reached his hand in and took one out. He immediately took a bite in moaned contentedly. It's been so long.

"Glad to see Ryker hasn't outgrown his fondness of tomatoes. I remember when I had my secret garden, Ryker would tear through them in a week as a boy." Judy chuckled fondly at the memories, almost giddy that those happy days were slowly coming back.

"Cut me some slack, mom. It was the only thing edible at the time." Ryker responded, taking another bite.

"Now, I picked these out for us." Judy gestured to the basket in her arms. "I might take one or two more, but the rest go to settlement. Gotta keep this place up and running after all."

"That's fine. Just be sure to hide that basket well." Ryker cackled.

Judy rolled her eyes with a smile as she made her way back into the house.

"So, I just eat these like an apple?" Ellie asked, rotating the tomato in her hands.

Ryker nodded his head. "I promise, no green stuff."

Ellie shrugged and took a bite.

"Holy shit, this is amazing." Ellie exclaimed, not wasting anytime in taking another bite.

"Better tell my mom to look out for you too." Ryker joked.

The two of them fell into a comfortable silence as they munched on their tomatoes.

"So…what's the deal with Ed right now?" Ryker asked.

"What do you mean?"

"I mean with all the rumors flying around. What's the deal?"

Ellie sighed. "To be honest, I don't really know. I mean, he hasn't done anything wrong really. He's just been misunderstood lately; wrong place, wrong time, y'know?"

Ryker nodded his head in understanding.

"I've become pretty good at reading people, it's a pretty useful trick. Hasn't proven me wrong so far."

"What makes you say that?"

"Let's just say I know some secrets. Especially about why I'm here and not somewhere else."

"You never did fully tell me how you found yourself here." Now that Ryker thought about it, all Ellie told him was her encounter with David. There was still a big gap between that and her being here now.

Ellie sighed. "That's a story for another day. Rain check, yeah?"

Ryker nodded. "Sure." He stood up. "Come on, let's see if we can't nab anymore tomatoes."

Elle grinned and stood up, following him back into the house. Both of them ready to go toe-to-toe with Mother Bayette.

**~T~L~O~U~**

The sun was partially set; the rapidly darkening sky was still covered with splotches of orange and yellow.

Ed had a bad feeling in the pit of his stomach.

He got a note from Mara, the test run proving successful, to go to the eastern gates of the settlement at about sunset. Ed knew he was taking a huge risk by sneaking around but he would be taking an even bigger risk by ignoring the call. Despite the humidity still being up there, Ed knew he had to blend in. He hesitantly grabbed a dark blue jacket and placed the hood on his head before walking out of his home.

Ed arrived at the gates and opened them slightly, spotting the woman from before. This time she was without a hood, but wore a cap to shield her face.

"I thought I told you to go home." Ed said.

"You got some strange ones wandering the trees here." She said. "It's kinda hard to make my way out with _his crew_ wandering around. They know my face well enough. If they catch me, everything's finished."

Ed sighed. "I know…"

"I found an opening so I should be able to make my way out tonight. There are some infected wondering around so I could take advantage of that. Y'know, blend in."

Ed nodded his head.

"Anyway, I just wanted to make sure you're aware that they're closing in. Have you told them to upgrade the security?"

"I did and they fixed the issue with the electric gates. There's already work to expand the gates. They still haven't figured out how the gates were switched off."

"All eyes on you?" She asked.

"Unfortunately. Another small group arrived not too long ago so at least I won't be alone if something else should come up."

The woman cocked a brow. "You're actually going to take advantage of that?"

"No. I'll live with my mistakes. There's no need to drag anyone else into it." Ed said firmly.

"But you are. Ellie."

"I couldn't control that." Ed sighed and looked down.

The faint sounds of clicking filled the air.

"That's my cue. Here." The woman took her bag off, unzipped it and reached into it, pulling out a small pouch.

"I brought this just in case I ran into some trouble but I figure you might want to perfect it a little more. You know, in case…"

"Thank you." Ed cut her off and stared at the pouch. He sighed and placed the pouch into the pocket of his jacket.

"I'll be in touch." The woman tipped her hat and ran off; Ed silently closed the door behind her.

"Ahhh shit." Ed exhaled out. Trouble never ceased to find him. He turned on his heel and made his way back home, partially grateful that a cooler breeze had kicked in to cool him down.

Oblivious to him, there were two figures that saw the whole exchange.

"What do you think that was about?" One of them asked.

"I don't know. But I don't like it. He's up to something. Should we tell Tommy?"

"Nah. There's enough heat already, no need to turn up the temperature up further."

"Good point, it's going to be like this tomorrow too?"

"With storms in the evening."

"God damn."

The two figures broke apart and went to their respective homes.

All was calm.

Calm before the storm.

* * *

BRUH I haven't updated this story in ages XP

I ran into a few walls and I hope these are valid reasons.

One, college is starting up soon (in about _**2 weeks** _nooooo) and I had to make sure I was financially secure for this year. Because y'know...FAFSA be like "here's a dollar, good luck lol" And I don't have the money for this ridiculous tuition oye...

And two I ran into a bit of a writer's block for this chapter. I knew what I wanted to do, the ideas were in my head, but for some reason I just couldn't get them out xO Hence the two one shots that were posted earlier this past week. Those helped loosen my head up a bit XD

Once again, sorry for the unacceptably long wait and possibly making you worry that I abandoned this story.

Thanks for reading and please leave a review if you want =)


	14. Summer Solstice

Chapter 14: Summer Solstice

"Never thought I'd see the great mane getting chopped off." Tommy commented with a smile.

Ed rolled his eyes in amusement as he prepared to cut off this ponytail with a pair of scissors.

"Summer tradition. Spent a brutal summer in Arizona one time. Learned quickly that short hair was the best way to go. Don't have to worry about your hair matting to the back of your neck and spares you a few degrees."

"Don't see how that's an issue."

"Well when Satan is breathing down on us and the back of your neck becomes a sauna you'll catch my meaning." Ed replied with a small smirk. He reached around his head to grab his ponytail, raised his scissor and swiftly cut it off.

"Besides, my hair grows steady as the summer goes on. Come mid-September, it'll be close enough back to normal."

"Whatever you say partner." Tommy replied.

While cutting his hair did pose a practical use, this time was more…personal. It was a farfetched idea but maybe it could work. Maybe a small change in appearance, a disguise could get the attention off of him. If they think he's left then maybe they'll leave these good people alone.

Ed regrets leaving his contact lenses behind. If wearing them could fool the military for a while then maybe it could fool them as well.

Maybe give himself a new name.

What was his middle name again?

No.

He's already under fire already. Telling everyone to call him by a different name would just add unnecessary heat. And there's enough of that already. Summer was on its way and Mother Nature just couldn't wait.

"So I hear the work on the bar is finishing up this week?" Ed asked, while trimming his bangs.

"Yep. Right now is just making sure everything is stable and secure, sorting out the food and refreshments, entertainment, décor, and testing out some of the arcade games that were found in the next town over."

Ed cracked a smile. "I bet Ellie is over there."

"Jumped over there the second she heard about it." Tommy laughed. "We could be open in business next week."

"Who knew we'd slowly be going back, so to speak." Ed, content with his new hair style, set the scissors down.

"We're slowly going back to the good old days. Or going back as close as we can."

"Feels good don't it?"

"Fucking hell it does. Been a damn good a while since I've had a drink. With what's happened these past two decades, I'll have to be careful to not over-indulge."

"Amen to that." Ed sighed. "But having five won't hurt right?"

Tommy chuckled. "There's the Ed-boy I know."

A chill ran up Ed's spine from the nickname. He only had the nickname with the fireflies, no one else, he thought to himself. He took a deep breath to calm himself.

"Do y'all need me for anything today? Guard shift? Help out with the bar?"

"Nah, we've been working you hard these past couple of days, you're free to take it easy today."

"You're sure?"

"Always the workaholic. I might have to get you a few forwards on that drink." The both of them shared a laugh.

"I'll see you around." Tommy patted Ed on the shoulder and left his home, leaving Ed alone with his thoughts.

While he always seemed to give off a calm demeanor, on the inside, everything was going at hundred and two miles an hour. He spent years traveling almost all over the continent to escape his past. For a while it worked. He was glad that they thought he was dead.

There are even times Ed questioned whether or not he should have kept his distance and keep running or take the chance and finally meet his daughter. It's not like she technically needed him. But she welcomes him with open arms anyway, even if she hasn't officially called her "dad"

Ed sighed heavily and ran a hand through his hair, forgetting momentarily that he had cut it off and feeling confused when he felt skin earlier than normal.

He had a completely quiet day for once; no immediate danger around the corner, Ellie was busy at the arcade (if he could take an educated guess, Ellie probably wouldn't be too much for father-daughter bonding, but that was alright with him), and his friends, including Joel, had their duties to tend to. He didn't feel like he was in the right state of mind to make some progress with his serum. If he wanted it to be as flawless and miraculous as he dreams of it being, he needed 100% focus.

He wasn't in the mood for any suspicious glares from the other settlers either.

It's such a beautiful day.

A beautiful day to go to sleep.

**~T~L~O~U~**

The first day of summer.

These days, the change in seasons was anything significant or positive, just meant new possible challenges on the horizon.

But this time it was definitely different. It was the rebirth of an old tradition. Today was the day everyone could let their guard down and let loose. The finishing of the bar couldn't be timed any better.

The building itself was two stories; the upstairs would primarily be for those under the age of 18, consisting of arcade games and comfortable couches; while the downstairs was for the older members. But everyone was free to mix and match. There was plenty of food (most of it provided by the diner), non-alcoholic drinks, and music, some dating back as early as the 1970s (many were delighted at the sight of Michael Jackson CDs.) The building would operate for 12 hours, 12pm to midnight, but today it would run from 6pm to 6am, in honor if it being the longest day of the year.

There weren't many rules, only that those under the age of 18 could not be served more than ¼ a cup of alcohol. At the same time, adults cannot have more than 10. It caused many of the younger ones to scratch their heads but if only they knew. When one misses something and they are reunited with it, they may tend to over indulge. Sara Bayette and Dexter Hamilton were the bartenders, while Judy was in charge of overseeing and serving food.

The interior was decorated nicely. The walls were painted a dark blue, with touches of mahogany. There were some well placed lights to give off a warm and inviting atmosphere. There was a bar with wooden stools, a well placed, few couches and sofas, tables and chairs. The floors were wood and shined brightly from being recently polished.

Some people could say that the scavengers struck gold when they discovered the town not too far from there. They found everything they needed, from paint to furniture, all in excellent condition.

What struck many people more was that the town itself was in very good standing, possibly just recently abandoned. Shocking to say that it didn't seem to be anything close to a quarantine zone. As if it was the eye in the middle of the storm, so to speak. It would take a lot of work, but many believe, Tommy especially, that it would be a wonderful addition to the settlement. There have been many talks of doing minor expansion, but this could be a great project to invest in.

Now all the business was out of the way, it was time for some well needed and much missed fun.

Many guards looked on in envy, wishing they were at the grand opening instead. But Maria stated that security needed to be at its peak after reports of witnessing what seemed to be a young girl wandering nearby by the settlement. And the attack of Ed and Ellie still shook the settlement to its core. They couldn't take any chances at this point.

These people spent their entire lives living in fear, this is the chance for them to finally break free of it, Maria stated.

The crowd didn't waste any time in entering the building.

"Dude, fuck. They have this kick ass game called Street Fighter II, come on! You gotta check it out!" Ellie grabbed Ryker's hand and dragged him upstairs to the game room.

Joel couldn't help but chuckle. He made his way over to the bar where Sara was cleaning off a few glasses.

"Evening." Joel drawled out.

"Right back at you. What can I do you for?" Sara said with a smile. "We have your standard wine, beer, and whiskey, but if that isn't up your alley, I can make a wicked Long Island Iced Tea"

Joel breathed out a laugh. "I think I'll start out small. Beer please, if you will."

"Coming right up!"

Joel couldn't put his finger on it, but he couldn't stop smiling. Maybe it was from finally being able to loosen up after fighting to stay alive for 20 years.

Maybe it was something else.

While Ellie made him happy, Sara made him happier. Ever since she came to the settlement, Ellie (as well as everyone) has noticed a change in Joel's demeanor. Many people were afraid to approach him because of his intimidating stature and proneness to an explosive temper. Now it seems he's cooled down. It was an odd feeling, but welcomed the change.

Joel was snapped out of his thoughts when Sara set down two glasses in front of him.

"I don't recall asking for two cups."

Sara mockingly shot him an incredulous look. "Come on now. You honestly think I'd pour you a drink and not pour some for myself?"

"Isn't it against the rules for you drink on the job?" He took his cup and took a sip. Oh. _Oh_. He definitely missed this.

"Maybe if you read the fine print. You won't rat me out, right?" Sara took a sip and hummed. "Fuck, I gotta ask Tommy what type of beer this is. Damn amazing." She quickly downed the rest, impressing Joel.

"That depends." Joel spoke, answering her question.

"On?" Sara smirked and raised a brow.

Nearby, Dexter couldn't help but roll his eyes in amusement. "Drink alcohol as two and wake up with three…" He whispered to himself with a giggle.

**~T~L~O~U~**

Ed was upstairs with Ellie, playing a fierce round of street fighter. Ellie was Chun Li and Ed was Ryu.

"Kicking your old ass, old man." Ellie said.

"Don't count me out yet, I still have some tricks up my sleeve." Ed picked up the pace and in about 30 seconds, he picked up his second win in this best out of three round.

"Holy fucking shit! I don't even care that I lost that was fucking epic." Ellie boasted. "How are you so good at this game?"

It wasn't an exaggeration, Ed has beaten practically everyone here and including one who quickly became the best, which was Ellie.

"While I was at NYU, they had a bunch of old arcade games there. This was one of them. When I didn't feel like writing papers or just working in general, I crashed in the game room. Some days they just found me passed out in front the damn thing." Ed laughed at his old nostalgia.

"Well my fingers hurt." Ellie said, rubbing her fingers.

"How about we sit down a bit. Or we can go downstairs and get some food?"

"Nah, not too hungry yet." Ellie walked over to a couch and plopped down on it.

Ellie sighed contentedly. Ed walked over and sat next to her.

"Is this really what it was like living in your times? Being able to do stuff like this and not worry about not seeing tomorrow?"

"Pretty much. I mean, we weren't exactly living in the most peaceful of times. As scary it may sound, you heard about people dying every day; murders, accidents, suicides; then you had your robberies, various types of assaults, just people acting like animals towards each other for no rational reason."

"Still…it beats _this_, y'know?" Ellie said, shifting over to rest her head on Ed's thigh. "Sitting up late at night, alone with your thoughts. Wondering how you're drawing breath. And wondering if you'll finally see if there's something else after this the next day."

"We'd still do that too. Especially where I lived, it wasn't exactly safe. Making eye contact with the wrong person could often get you in a world of trouble. Wearing the wrong color could get you shot. But if anything, it was wrong place, wrong time that claimed the most victims." Ed ran a hand through Ellie's hair, admiring how she wore it down instead of in her trademark ponytail.

"Sometimes, I think I was born in the wrong era. I wish I was born earlier."

"Your mother and I talked about having kids for a while. But on account on me still being in school, planning to go to medical school and having some financial issues, kids just weren't on at the top of the list at the moment."

"Were you and Anna married?"

"Engaged, started growing apart after the outbreak, then becoming estranged."

"Could you tell me more about her? Marlene didn't tell me much."

"You're a carbon copy of her, to be honest. Full of life and energy, stubborn"

Ellie shot him a look but that only earned her a pinch on the cheek, causing her to grimace.

"Strong willed, didn't take anyone's shit, and fiercely protective of those close to her. But most of all, she had the biggest heart."

"Do you think she's proud of me? Of what I've done?"

"She'd be the proudest mother alive, Ellie."

"What the fuck?!" The exclamation snapped the two of them out of their talk.

The two of them immediately turned their heads to find a boy, Andy, looking flabbergasted while Ryker was doubled over, and his face red from laughter.

"Dude, what the fuck did you do?" Andy exclaimed.

"I don't know but man you should have seen the look on your face! That was fucking awesome."

Ellie and Ed got up and walked over.

"What happened?" Ed asked.

"We were playing a round then Ryker began mashing some buttons and I just lost instantly!" Andy exclaimed.

Ed laughed and placed a hand on Ryker's shoulder. "My boy, you've discovered a wonderful thing called cheat codes."

**~T~L~O~U~**

"Is she your daughter?" Sara asked.

The two of them sat at table, after Dexter insisted that the two of them sit down and talk some more, seeing as they spent a majority of the night talking about everything and nothing. They were each nursing a cup of whiskey, shockingly, only their second drink of the night.

"Ellie?" Joel asked.

"Yeah?"

"No, Ed is her biological dad. But I guess I could be a contender for the role."

"She's a very nice girl. How did you meet her?"

"It's kind of a long story." Joel took a swig of his whiskey, humming from the taste he missed so much.

"Night's still young." Sara responded.

Joel shook his head with a smile. "I couldn't"

"I thought we agreed that we couldn't hide anything from each other?"

Joel, confused, stopped mid drink. "When did we do that?"

"The very second you ordered your first beer. I think you understand that alcohol makes you an open book no matter how high your tolerance."

Joel couldn't help but laugh. This woman was as quick witted as they come.

"Were you planning on being a comedian at any point, just asking."

"Funny you ask. Nearly dropped out of college to pursue a career."

"No kidding?"

"I was considered the queen of Improv comedy. Participated in nearly every comedy show my campus held. Our group blew the roof off the place every time. I was asked to do a solo comedy show and I was a hit."

"Well there are still open spots for entertainment here. You and Ellie could be a show."

"I'm sure." Sara chuckled. "How about you? Any big plans before it all got fucked up?"

"I did, but they weren't stopped by the outbreak." Joel took another sip of his whiskey.

"Oh?" Sara downed the rest of her whiskey. "What happened or is that a long story as well?"

"Not at all uh…" Even 20 years later it still hurt to talk about it. "I had a kid right before I planned to go to college."

"Oh my. You fell right into that statistic."

"Yeah I fell hard." Joel paused. "It's funny when you asked if I had a daughter. I had one right before the outbreak."

"What was her name?" Sara asked.

"Hilariously enough, her name was Sarah. She was 12 years old and the center of my universe."

"What happened to her?" Sara asked softly. She easily caught the deep and shaky breath Joel took. "You know what, I think pried too deep, you don't have to-"

"No, no. It's okay." Joel cleared his throat. "We were trying to escape Houston right at the point the outbreak started. We got confronted by the military and they had shoot on sight orders, no discrimination. They shot her. She died in my arms."

Sara shook her head in sadness. Could the military really stoop that low? Killing an innocent child?

"That's terrible. I'm so sorry Joel." Sara placed a hand on top of Joel's squeezing tightly. The two of them fell silent and the rest of the world disappeared into the background as they stared into each other's eyes.

"Just fucking kiss already!" The two of them snapped their heads in the direction of the voice. It belonged to no other and Ellie who sat at the bar with Ryker and the other boy Andy. Dexter was preparing to serve them a drink.

"Ellie!" Joel said in warning.

"What? I wanna see what all the fuss is about."

"Alright, Two beers and a whiskey. I'm watching you kids." Dexter said with a wink.

Ryker and Dexter did not hesitate in drinking their respective drinks. But Ellie's was a bit of a trial. Upon the first sip, her face scrunched up in disgust.

"Ugh! How do you guys drink this stuff?" She swallowed the drink with a grimace.

Joel and Sara shared a laugh. "How long do you think until they cave and sneak themselves to Long Island?"

"I'd like to wager never."

Sara chuckled. "Come on, let's head upstairs. I wanna check it out." Sara stood up, pulling Joel up with her since she still had a firm grip on his hand.

"Nah, games aren't really my thing."

"You do say?" Sara's eyes twinkled mischievously as her grip on Joel's hand increased. "Hey Ellie! Wanna see me hand Joel's ass back to him in The Turning?"

"Hell yes! Are you playing as Angel Knives?" Ellie unknowingly downed the rest of her beer.

"She's the queen, after all."

Joel groaned and watched with slight amusement as Sara and Ellie each took a hand and dragged him up to the game room.

These two just might be the death of him.

"Stop resisting and take your impending defeat like a man! It's either this or you're singing."

"Wait you can sing?" Sara questioned.

Joel suddenly became willing.

* * *

Hi

LOL.

Yeah it's been a _**long**_ time, over two months 0.0 Again college has really been handing my ass back to me this semester. Each weekend I just wanted to wind down a bit and relax before it started all over again. I tried tackling this during my fall break on the 13th &amp; 14th but again, low energy and I still had work due later that week. Now since I just finished midterms, I have a wide window of opportunity to really work on this chapter and anything else before it becomes hectic again.

*****Note:** I gave a brief description of Sara Bayette in Ch.13 and in case y'all forgot: She has short light brown, almost blonde hair and brown eyes, fair skin; is around the same age as Joel, and about two inches taller than Ellie.  
This chapter was a good opportunity to do some character developing for her because I do plan for her to become a major character here other than a love interest. (I also gave her that name and spelled it that way for a reason) Also, take note that writing anything along the lines of romance are not my forte so excuse any typical cheesiness and whatnot XD

I feel really bad for making you all wait this long and at the same time, I thank you all for your patience and support. This story has really grown faster than I thought it would with over 7000 views and 82 reviews at only 13 chapters! You guys are awesome, really =3

Form a prayer circle that the next update won't be too far off! XD (no really)

Please review, if you'd like =)


	15. From the Dark

Chapter 15: From the Dark

The days couldn't be any better and brighter. The weather was perfect with only a day here and there being a bit unbearable. The sun shone bright during the day and whispered its goodbye at night, promising that it would bring light once again tomorrow.

Things were peaceful at the settlement. The raids on the settlement had become less frequent and there wasn't any scare of any infected wandering too close. There was a hoard of them to the north and south but they seem to have migrated. Ed suggested that since the infected's one weakness is heat, the intense heat of the sun may have forced them to disperse. Hell, even the intense heat of the sun may have burned them to a crisp too.

Ed also took note of how Baron had become more introverted (if that was even possible). He barely left his home and generally looked uncomfortable in this weather. But at the same time, summer weather isn't for everyone. So if he hated it and had nowhere important to be, why go outside? It was understandable.

Ed always found Baron peculiar. Scratched in the face by a clicker and by no medical means, was able to overcome to infection like it was the common cold. Sure Baron may have fallen extremely ill to point of looking death in its unforgiving eyes, but he overcame it nonetheless. It made Ed think. Maybe his and Ellie's immunities aren't the only types out there. It excited him. It meant new possibilities. New possibilities to protect the ones close to him.

The more the better.

**~T~L~O~U~**

Ellie and Ryker were sitting in the backyard of his home in the shade, enjoying a nice cup of water. Today was one of those significantly hotter days. The clouds were in the sky which would shield the sun to provide temporary relief but it did very little against the humidity.

"If you look closer at that one you could make out a bloater." Ellie said, pointing at one of the larger clouds in the sky.

"How the hell can you make out a bloater?" Ryker laughed. "And what is with you and bloaters lately?"

Ellie shrugged. "As scary as those fuckers are, I gotta admit, they're pretty badass in a way."

"Are you only saying that because your dad is kind of one? You know with the ripping open of the jaws and everything?"

"I'll admit that it scared the absolute shit out of me at first, but it's not that bad. Plus it's not like he's going to be ripping anyone else's open anytime soon. One time thing."

"Yeah…just remind me to stay on his good side."

"Ed doesn't have a problem with you and I being together. It's Joel you have to worry about."

Ryker let out an involuntary shudder. He wondered if Joel would ever stop giving him the death glare whenever he hung out with Ellie. He wondered if one day Joel would pistol whip him to no end if he did anything that was in the wide vicinity of wrong to Ellie. It's no doubt. Joel would rip him apart, put him together, and rip him apart all over again. It seemed like Ed was keeping him grounded and Ryker was grateful for that.

Hold the phone.

"You and I are together?" Ryker's head snapped up and immediately looked at Ellie's face.

Ellie cocked a brow. "Well yeah, we are now, aren't we? We're cloud watching together, hanging out. Y'know, together."

Ryker shook his head. "Right, right. Yeah. Of course." Ryker subtlety rubbed his cheeks in an attempt to curb his embarrassment. It was hot enough already, he didn't need more heat.

"What did you think I meant?"

"Not a single other god damn thing." Ryker muttered.

"You're so fucking weird." Ellie laughed.

"What the fuck is normal though?"

Ellie shrugged before laying down, glancing up at the sky. "Good point."

**~T~L~O~U~**

"So is the part where the handsome man kills the innocent pretty lady?"

Joel smiled. "Oh so I'm handsome now?"

Sara rolled her eyes in amusement. "Don't let it get to that head of yours. The best horror movies have the handsome fella as the killer. You'd never see it coming. It's a shame not all of them are like that."

Joel and Sara were currently on a hike just outside the settlement. The both of them were free from guard duty and because the food supply has remained high, the hunting trips became less frequent. The two of them going out alone earned them some catcalls and whistles, but really, they were just happy that the two were finally getting closer.

"So you think Freddy's cute then?" Joel asked.

"Once you get by the claws and the melted skin, and the blood thirst, I'm sure he was a decent man to hang around." Sara shrugged.

Joel couldn't his loud laughter. This woman was certainly something else.

"This hike was a good idea." Sara sat on top of a large rock. "You and Sarah used to go on hikes right?"

"Yep, she was huge on them. We would go every other weekend, or whenever I wasn't swamped with work. What about you?"

"I went camping with my family growing up. And when I was in college, while people were getting wasted during spring break, I would brave the wilds on my own. If people ask and they're the right person, I'd let them join me."

"You must have good instincts then."

"Eh, I think it was more that I was one of the few people who respected nature so nature was kind to me back for that. Can't tell you how much I freaked people out when they found me sitting cozy with some bears."

Joel's eyes widened. "What?"

"Yeah there was a time I lost track of time and stayed in the woods longer than I was supposed to. Even though my parents didn't agree with my career decision, they still worried about me. They knew I liked going on these solo trips so they sent out a search party. They found me looking cozy between a momma bear and its cubs."

"How'd that happen?"

"I was walking around, trying to find some food to eat, preferably some fruit. I heard something cry out so I followed the noise. I found a bear cub whose leg was caught in a bear trap and there was another cub next to it that really had no fucking clue what to do. It must have been hunting season but I don't know." Sara paused. "So against all better judgment, I went to the poor thing and tried to free it which I did. And at that very moment, the mom showed up."

"What happened next?"

"She-well fuck I still don't really know. She bent down low, slowly came up to me and butted her head against my torso. Then she turned around and walked away. I thought that was her way of thanking me but then she turned back around. She moved her head in a way that said "follow me." So I did and she brought me to a fucking apple tree."

"The hell?"

"Yeah and that's how I wound up staying in the wilds longer than I planned to. The mom wouldn't let me out of her sight. She let me ride her, play with her cubs, went hunting with them, and slept with them at night. When the authorities eventually found me, they were ready to kill the bears. I had to convince them seven ways from Sunday that I wasn't in any trouble. Even though the mom tugged on my shirt any time I tried to leave I think she picked up that I had to. I bid goodbye to her and the cubs and returned to civilization."

"Oh my god." Joel muttered, shaking his head.

"That is the honest to god truth Joel. You had to have heard it on the news at one point. I've lost track of how many news reporters flocked to my campus to try and get an interview with me. They crowned me the Queen of Bears."

Now it hit him. "Queen of bears? Now that's familiar. I didn't see the news report but Sarah did tell me about it."

"After that it was the whole shebang: Book deals, documentary deals, shit, even a television deal; 'The Bear Whisperer'. Jeez, you make peace with a couple of bears and suddenly you're their mistress. I'm sure if we all got in tune with nature we'd be having lions and tigers living in our homes."

"Did you take them up on their offers?"

"Absolutely not. I mean yeah, it could have paid my college tuition and my loans but no. That's not what I wanted to be. That's not the legacy I wanted to leave behind. I wanted to be known for making people smile and laugh, not because I was respectful to animals that deserve that respect to begin with."

"I think that's pretty noble." Joel said.

"Don't get me wrong here. I wasn't some sort of animal activist or anything. I ate my fair share of animals back in the day and obviously still do. But I think if you do it out of need instead of sport, it balances out in a way. You know what I mean?"

"Well if it saved your ass from being mauled I don't think I could argue with that."

"Thank you! Damn, thank god there's still more level minded people left in the world."

"How do you think some people still survive?"

Sara chuckled. She smiled thinking back to that memory. How things were in the past…she missed them. She would have loved to know what happened to those bears. She had half a mind to worry if they were going to show up on campus because they missed her. But they didn't. She wished that she could have gone back to that forest to find them but because of that incident, she wasn't allowed to go back in the wilderness alone anymore. She was required to bring one other person with her and if she didn't she would be arrested. Arrested for trying to get away from civilization for a while. Unreal.

They weren't kidding when they said people could get convicted for anything.

Sara shook her head in amusement and looked up at Joel, getting lost in his eyes a while. Until something unusual behind him, in the trees, caught her attention. She made a grimace and looked over his shoulder. She could have sworn she saw someone or something standing there.

Joel noticed her grimace and turned around, trying to find what she was looking at.

"What's the matter?"

Sara shook her head in confusion. "Hm… I guess nothing. I thought I saw something standing over th-"

_Snap_

The sound of a branch snapping followed by the faint sound of scurrying footsteps definitely caught their attention.

"Think it's one of your bear friends?"

"I would be truly flattered if a bear found its way from Minnesota to Wyoming just to reunite with me." Sara continued to look straight ahead. "Something doesn't feel right here."

Joel agreed. He felt the air around them shift when they heard the footsteps and it wasn't the due to the humidity.

Sara stood up and reached back, reaching into the back of her pants and pulling out two hand guns, surprising Joel.

"Here, Ol' Reliable and Ol' Common Sense. Pick one."

"And you were worried about me killing you." Joel remarked, picking 'Ol' Reliable', a standard Revolver.

"No one expects the pretty lady either."

Joel couldn't argue with that notion.

The two of them remained where they were, trying to pick up on anymore noises, keeping their eyes peels for anything out of the ordinary.

"Wanna Scooby-Doo this?"

The odd question brought Joel out of his concentration. "Scooby-doo this?"

"Y'know. '_Let's split up gang'_ "Sara did an impression of Freddy which honestly blew Joel away. It was shockingly spot on.

What _exactly_ was this woman?

"Yeah sure. Fire a shot in the air if you find something or get into trouble, yeah?"

"You got it."

The two of them went their separate ways to investigate. They looked up and down, as far as they could. Both of them being were occasionally startled by something they thought they saw in their peripherals. Each time they looked that direction, there was nothing there.

Joel was rounding a tree when he felt a presence. He immediately took cover behind a tree. He readied himself, with his finger on the trigger and emerged quickly. The other person did the same.

"It's just you." Joel and Sara said simultaneously.

Sara's eyes widened. "Oh my-" Sara quickly walked over to Joel, "You goof, you didn't even turn the safety off."

Joel looked at her funny and looked at the gun. He could swear it was off.

Now Joel wonders if he should have been worried.

"You sure it's still on? Was able to pull the trigger just fine." Joel said.

"How do you think I didn't shoot myself in the ass when I was sitting on that rock? I rigged these two guns just so their safeties don't accidentally turn off and then I have two shiny new bullet holes. I never go anywhere without these two in my pants pocket. If the enemy finds them they can't use them. They'd never figure out to turn it off. Takes a bit of effort."

"So how were you expecting me to turn them off?"

"Use your common sense." Sara winked, gently taking the gun from him and showing him how to turn off the safety on the gun. While it looked complicated it was actually simple. Extremely simple. "Plus, you're miles smarter than any hunter could be. You would have figured it out."

"I've had these babies for years. They haven't let me down yet. She twirled them and tucked them away in the back of her pants. "Anyway, we might want to tell Tommy to up the security a bit. Something mysterious is wandering about around here and I don't like it."

"Agreed. I thought I saw someone wearing black in the trees. I was actually tracking him before I ran into you here."

"Really? I saw the same thing and was tracking him too before I wound up here."

Was this a trick of the mind or a trick a fate?

"Anyway, let's head on back." Sara patted Joel's shoulder before turning around to walk.

And Joel would swear up and down all the way to his grave that he was looking at the guns in her pants pockets.

**~T~L~O~U~**

The rest of the day went without incident. Joel and Sara told Tommy of what they may have seen outside the settlement. It sounded far-fetched but Tommy didn't want to take any chances. The electric gates, due to fear of the generator overheating in this weather, were only to be used at night when it was cooler. There were added patrols at the guarding stations and everyone was required to keep a walkie talkie on them. Those under eighteen either had to be with someone else or with an adult. As much as it bothered him to say it, Joel told Ellie to stay with Ryker for the rest of the day and he would come pick her up later on. And Joel wouldn't Joel without uttering a death threat to Ryker.

But other than that, the day passed by normally. Nothing or no one out of the ordinary. The sun was setting, coloring the sky in an unusual mix of purple and orange, and bidding adieu to the day.

Since the opening of the bar, Greg was able to close down the diner earlier, since the bar would take over in the serving of the food. Another plus is that he didn't have to work at the bar either. He was thinking of possibly doing an end of the week special but for now he was going to soak up having his evenings and nights free. He was currently in the back, in the kitchen, cleaning off the pots, pans, plates, and utensils.

Greg was drying plates off when he distinctly heard the front door opening and closing. He made his way out of the kitchen and spotted someone standing by the tables, darting its head back and forth looking for something.

"Excuse me? I'm shut down for the night, go on over to the bar if you're hankering for something to eat." Greg took in the appearance of this person. He couldn't see their face and was dressed in all black. It was also peculiar that they were wearing a black heavy hooded sweater on today of all days. Even though the sun was going down, the temperature was still pretty high up.

"Where are they?" The person asked, confirming that it was a male.

"If you're looking for someone, go find Tommy. He'll help you find whoever you're looking for, if they're here of course." Greg responded.

The mysterious seemed to have ignored Greg's words and continued to walk around the diner. Greg contemplated going to the back and grabbing his walkie talkie but he wanted to keep an eye on this man. Something about him seemed off.

"We need them. We won't be complete without them…" The man muttered, grazing his hand on each of the tables.

On the fifth or so table, the man stopped. Pause. A tense silence.

"They are here! Where are you keeping them?!"

"What in the blue hell…?" Greg muttered.

With inhumane strength, the man picked up a table and chair and threw them at opposite ends of the diner, just narrowly missing a window or two.

"God damn man! What the-"

Greg's question was cut off when the man's hood slipped down. Greg nearly threw up on sight. The man, if you could even call him that, had fungus growing all over his head and neck; his eyes were a bright blood red.

Fungus.

Oh _hell_.

Greg made a dash to the back. There wasn't time to call Tommy. He had to take matters in his own hands. He picked up the biggest knife he had and turned around ready to fight him. Greg barely had time to think before the man, who had followed him into the kitchen jumped towards him. With just a few seconds to spare, Greg was able shove the knife into the attacker's neck. Blood was quickly beginning to spray out.

"You will pay for keeping them away from us. All of you…" The man choked out. This only made Greg shove the knife in more.

Greg heard a soft pop but didn't think anything of it. He wanted to make sure this man or whatever this thing was, was dead.

"Our mark…we're coming…for them…" The man let out a sound that was eerily similar to a clicker's and fell to the ground.

Once Greg was sure he wasn't going to spring back to life, he pulled the knife out. He turned around to grab his walkie talkie when he felt a sharp pain in his abdomen. As his adrenaline wore off the pain grew in intensity. Greg immediately grabbed the spot and was horrified at the amount of blood that had already come out of him. He grabbed the walkie talkie just as he fell to the ground.

With just enough strength, Greg was able to push a button. The red button. A button that would alert everyone in the settlement that there was an issue that needed to be tended to immediately.

Tommy immediately responded.

"What's going on? Who pressed the emergency button?" Tommy said.

"Diner…intruder…"

"Greg? What happened? Are you okay?"

Greg couldn't find any more strength to speak, only letting out a soft groan afterwards. All he wanted to do lay his head on the cold hard ground and maybe sleep a while. Leave with the sun…

Leave with the sun, as it finally bid adieu to this, the beginning of darker days.

* * *

**[Edit 5/18/2015: **Finally got around to proof reading this chapter. If there are still goofs lingering let me know and I'll address them =)**]**

Well it's about time for things to hit the fan, right? Yep.

Thank you all for your patience and support! I was shocked to see this story past 10K hits and almost 100 reviews. I'm glad you're all loving it. Y'all are the best, really =) :3


	16. A Strange Mark

Chapter 16: A Strange Mark

Ease of mind. As quick as it came it was gone. Everyone came here to be free of any worries and danger. They could sleep safely at night in their warm comfy beds with the reassurance that they'll see the sun the next day. They could eat to their hearts content, certain that they'll be able to do the same the next day. There were less worries of being attacked in the middle of the night.

These walls were sanctuary and a ticket to a trip back in time; a time when there were less things to worry about. Things don't last forever it seems.

One incident had everyone in a panic. That night, some people slept, some not at all, some just got the bare minimum. Some stood guard at their windows with a gun, others with one eye open. Others took a chance and slept the whole night through but only with a knife or a gun under their pillow and an attentive ear to the sky.

It was one thing to be attacked from the outside, but to be attacked on the inside, by possibly one of their own? The reality that they were never were truly safe came crashing through.

The following morning was cooler and gloomy. The sun was up but didn't want to show its face. Gray skies with the occasional drizzle seemed to be the way of day. Merriment and joy was replaced by misplaced trust and silence. Everyone had at least one extra method of defense on them, whether it be in plain sight or strategically hidden.

Tommy gathered everyone in the settlement at the bar for a meeting. Greg's condition was stable, despite all the bleeding. The bullet was lodged deep in his abdomen that would require careful surgery but he was expected to live.

He also explained that hunting trips were crucial at this time. Not only with the threat of a thunderstorm looming, a lock down of the settlement in the future might be possible. Because of that, food supplies had to be well beyond high. And as much as it would hurt, they may have to turn away any newcomers to the settlement, even if that person knows or is close to someone who already lives here. They couldn't take any chances.

None.

**~T~L~O~U~**

Ed chose to stay home. He knew that while everyone was side eying everyone else, fingers would still be pointed at him. Normally he would be able to block out those whispers and pointed fingers but today he didn't have the capacity for it.

The guilt was already too much to handle.

"I'm sorry…Ellie…everyone…I'm sorry." Ed whispered over and over to himself. He watched from his bedroom window

"Why did I have to be so selfish?! I knew the risks but I did it anyway. I just had to see her one more time…"

"Fucking stupid!" Ed grabbed a glass cup and threw it at the wall, shattering it to pieces. "You knew the odds, the risks...god damn it!"

Ed could feel himself slipping, slipping into a rage. If he didn't catch himself, there's no telling what would happen.

Ed's thoughts were interrupted by a soft chirping by his window.

Birds were usually a sign of hope, innocence, happiness, a sign of good things to come. All that positivity jazz.

Not this one though.

Ed opened the window and presented his hand to the bird. The bird landed on Ed's hand he saw the rolled up note tied to the bird's leg.

_I thought you were going to pass on the message to up the security! I don't think I need to tell you that these fuckers are like flies, they won't go away, always on a wall. There's a reason why it's in their name. Well not completely but you know all about that._

_What's going to be your next move now? They know you're there. You know what they're capable of…to get what they want._

_Keep me posted, alright?_

_-R_

That was the problem. Ed had no idea. He was rolling the die and hoped he could get a lucky seven. But all he's been getting are snake eyes.

Ed sighed and went over to his desk and picked up a pen. He wrote out his response,

_Keep an eye on Mt. Vernon. Contact me immediately if you are in trouble. They seem more aggressive than ever. Watch yourself._

_-E_

Ed went back to the window and extended his hand to the bird. The bird caught on and jumped onto his hand.

"Good girl Mara. Get this to her immediately. You be careful too." And with that the bird flew away.

But if there was one thing Ed knew for certain is that he couldn't keep this secret anymore. These people needed to know what and who they are dealing with. The settlement could currently have the numbers advantage but Ed knew that wouldn't stop them. They're even more dangerous when outnumbered.

With renewed confidence and determination, he left his home. It was time they knew the truth.

**~T~L~O~U~**

Ellie hated very little in life but the things she did hate were for obvious reasons. The infected, hunters, David, school to some degree. Truth be told, school was close to being removed from her list but its spot had all but been solidified on the list. Why?

She was in detention. For simply defending herself and a person she cared about.

Jackie, another potential addition to her shit list, was the reason why she was here much longer than she'd like against her will. Jackie, a blind follower of rumors and assumptions was running her mouth. It was one thing to spew shit about her, but once she got to Ed and Joel, shit hit the fan.

So Ellie did the best thing, the _only_ thing to rectify the situation.

Jackie's words echoed in Ellie's mind.

_"The guy's a piece of shit. He needs to go where shit rots. They're all shit. Shit should rot together._

Rage. All she saw was red. Ellie gave her a sock to the face that even Joel would be proud of, after he's mad at her that is.

"Ellie?"

Ellie was brought out of her thoughts and noticed that her hand had been digging much too far into the wooden desk, enough to leave marks. She looked up and saw the school's principal, Ms. Hanson standing at the door.

"You're free to go hun." Ms. Hanson said.

"Fucking finally." Ellie muttered to herself. She had no idea how long she had been sitting there with her thoughts. Could have been a few minutes, could have been a week, maybe a month, a year even. Either way she was more than happy to get out of here.

There were comics to be read, damn it.

"Just a sec, Ellie."

So. Close.

"Just you let you know, I completely understand why you might have knocked Jackie into next week."

"So why the detention?"

"And listen to her cry and complain further? Child, I've had five kids and lord knows I don't need a sixth. This was just saving face...and what's left of my sanity."

Ellie smiled. Maybe school could be removed from her shit list after all. And be replaced by Jackie.

"I loved that line of yours. Don't you know when you assume you make an ass out of 'u' and 'me' Seems like that's a line that will never evade us. Even when the world's gone to shit."

Ellie chuckled. "Thanks Ms. Hanson."

"Anytime Ellie

"For extra measure, I may give you a 'suspension'." Ms. Hanson made air quotes around the word suspension. Come back in two days alright?"

Ellie's grin grew. "Alright cool. Later, Ms. Hanson."

Ms. Hanson tsked. "Ms. Hanson in front of the kids, Penny when it's just us, yeah?" She winked.

"Sure thing." Ellie walked off.

Yeah. School could definitely be taken off her shit list.

**~T~L~O~U~**

"How's Greg?" Joel asked.

"Still in a bit of pain but doctors say he'll make a fine recovery." Tommy said.

Joel and Tommy were at Joel's home, mulling over the rollercoaster of ride this past day and a half had been. One mishap and it seems like everything they were working for had become undone. It didn't feel safe anymore. Was it ever really safe? No one knew.

"But when they went in to remove the bullet from his abdomen, well they didn't exactly find a bullet." Tommy reached into his bag and pulled out a jar. "Gotta drop this off so they can clean it up and examine it."

"What the hell is that?" Joel's asked, his eyes nearly popping out of his head. He's seen some crazy shit in his lifetime. But this...this nearly takes the cake.

"Not sure, covered in too much blood to get a clear glimpse. We can make out some wings and color, but that's about it. Pretty big fella too."

Joel took the jar and examined it. Like Tommy said, he could make out some wings, and the color, a dark green.

"I think this is a mark, a message of sorts. No matter how twisted or fucked up you are, you don't go implanting stuff like that into people without a reason."

"So what does it mean?" Joel asked, placing the jar back on the table.

"No clue. But something tells me we better figure it out quick. The fact they were able to get by without any one being any the wiser is something of the paranormal. Who knows if there's any more of these guys among us." Tommy said.

"Or _someone_ let them in." Joel sneered.

Tommy sighed. "Look Joel. Ed is a good man, he's just got some skeletons in his closet. You can relate, you've got a couple in yours too. All of us do."

Joel ignored that remark. That was an argument for another day. Or never. "Well he's got a strong connection to all this and I don't like it. None of this was going on until he walked into these walls."

"Then if there's anyone who knows well enough about this, it's him."

"Oh I'm sure. And I'll gladly beat it out of him if I have to."

"You won't need to beat it out of me." A voice spoke up.

Joel's and Tommy's head snapped to the door, and found Ed standing there, spare key in hand. (Joel would have to ask Ellie about that later.)

"You've got a lot of fucking nerve showing your face here." Joel stood up and began walking towards Ed, rage completely taking over. Ed was sure Joel would tear through him like tissue.

Yet Ed was complacent.

He wondered how long he could live torn in two. Hopefully long enough to help the rest of the settlement fix this problem. Maybe Joel would comically leave him only partially torn, just enough to be sewn back together.

"Joel." Tommy quickly stood up after Joel and grabbed his arm to hold him back. "Remember. Ed seems to know more about what's going on here. He won't do us much good if you tear his head off."

That actually sounded better than being torn in two. He could be the talking head, proclaiming prophecies and wisdom. They could kick him around if they deemed him undeserving of being carried. Could be fun for the kids.

"Fine. Talk." Joel crossed his arms and looked at Ed.

Ed nodded his head. "You mentioned something peculiar was removed from Greg's abdomen. May I see?"

Tommy walked back to the table, picked up the jar, and handed it to Ed.

There was a brief silence before Ed spoke up again.

"Yep. That's them." Ed said. "The Dragonflies. They're the only ones sadistic enough to do this. Their signature mark."

Joel's and Tommy's eyebrows flew to their hairlines.

"Dragonflies? We have fireflies and now we have dragonflies?"

"-10 for originality." Joel muttered.

"I played a part in naming them. Had I known what they were going to become, I would have given them a different name, rather than after the beauty that are dragonflies.

"Wait, were you the leader of these guys?" Tommy asked.

Ed took a deep breath, beginning to feel faint. "Tommy...I've been on quite the journey since that incident on Long Island. Sure we've kept in touch the best we could but it wasn't long before I went quiet on you." Pause.

"For that I apologize. But I thought it was for the best. You wouldn't want to know what I've endured, what I've seen...what I've created."

"What are you on about?" Joel said, not liking where this was going.

Ed took another deep breath, a slow inhale and a shaky exhale. The moment of truth. "Sit tight you two. This will be quite the tale."

* * *

YES. This story is still alive! Just haven't much time to write it XD Hopefully the next chapter won't take a year o.O Next chapter we get into some backstory, which is always fun ^.^

I hope you liked it and please leave a review =)

Oh and one other thing, Ellie's segment in this chapter...it's not THAT random :3


	17. Gold Mine

Chapter 17: The Gold Mine

Tommy and Joel shared a look. Tommy knew all Joel wanted to Joel was punch Ed's face in but he this was their only chance of getting an idea of what they're dealing with here. And as much as Joel just wanted to remove him from existence to protect Ellie, he had to hear Ed out. They nodded in agreement and took a seat

"Have you ever been told that no matter how hard you try, you just can't seem to escape your past?" Ed asked the pair.

"I've heard it once or twice." Joel said.

"Seems like that's all I've been doing these past couple of years. Just running and escaping. It didn't have to be like this but fate works in twisted ways I suppose."

Ed cracked his neck, said a silent prayer and began to talk once more.

* * *

**_July 5th, 2019_**

_Ed looked on in a mix of anger, horror, and dread._

_Several years of work literally gone up in flames, just because the military had some sort of grudge against them. They were working on a cure, a way to save humanity. But no. Humanity had to endure hell just a little while longer._

_Ed was lucky, he was the only one who survived and he barely made it out with his life. He was certain he suffered some burns, nothing serious thankfully. Enough of his clothing was still intact. _

_Ed sighed. "Well Ed. Now what?"_

_Boston or the cold, unforgiving vast land that is America?_

_The military in Boston hated him. They were the ones who coordinated the attack, he was willing to best money on that. If he supposedly came back from the dead and arrived at their walls, he wouldn't last a minute._

_Or worse._

_On the other hand, America could swallow him up whole and wouldn't even burp._

_Which was the lesser of two evils?_

* * *

"Fireflies weren't liked too much in Boston." Joel commented. He recalled it well. The military was out for the fireflies' blood. You even so much as talk about fireflies and they'd take you in for questioning.

But those who were brought in for questioning, as innocent was they almost always were, just seemed to disappear.

"You see what they do to fireflies in the public; Execution. But in private, you would pray to be executed but they'd never give it to you. For people that are supposed to protect us they sure did a shit job." Ed said.

"I knew Ellie was still in Boston. But it wouldn't be fair to her if I showed up just to disappear immediately afterwards. So I made the decision..."

* * *

_Ed still had his gun on him. He reached into his pocket, took it out and checked the ammo._

_Six bullets. If it came down to it, he had to make his shots count. _

_But Ed had low expectations. Hunters and infected alike traveled in packs. And it's not like they stay in one spot to allow you to shoot them._

_There was no lesser of two evils. Both would likely end up in death._

_But with that fact, Ed made his decision. He would push on._

* * *

"Things were rough at first. I walked as far as I possibly could during the day, and rested at night. Narrowly avoided encounters with hunters and infected alike. Food was scarce and if I managed to find some, it was damn near inedible. But it was enough for me. Water was at least plentiful, it was quite the rainy July."

"Where did you go?" Tommy asked.

"Found myself in Times Square after some weeks. It's funny that even though the rest of the world was dead, Times Square still seemed to be awake. Gray and void of actual life, but awake. The city that never sleeps, through and through." Ed said.

"Things began turning around for the better, around the beginning of August I think..."

* * *

_Times Square was a gold mine._

_It seemed like everyone just left. Literally dropped everything and left. Shopping bags littered the streets. Plenty of loot for the taking._

_Ed managed to find himself a backpack, clothing, edible food, a couple of flashlights, a machete of all things, and various other supplies he would deem useful down the line. He took refuge in a Toys R Us. The toys still lined the shelves. Someone else might find their constant staring frightening, almost haunting._

_But Ed found solace. He wasn't alone._

* * *

"I almost made the decision to stay permanently in Times Square. A grand city all to myself. My own personal safe haven."

"Kind of like Bill." Joel added.

"Who?" Ed asked.

"A fella we had a smuggling arrangement with while in Boston. He was holed up over in Lincoln, Pennsylvania. Loads of infected there but he had traps and weapons to keep them at bay."

"We? You and Tommy?"

"No...um..." Joel looked away from Ed.

"Oh sore subject. Well, you're not exactly on the chopping block here so you don't have to answer. Forget I asked." Ed waved his hand.

"I suppose I could have done something like that with the other QZs. I doubt you Bill were the only smugglers operating on the east coast. Times Square was littered with supplies. Useless to me, but someone else could have used it. And who knows, Joel. Maybe you and I would have crossed paths sooner. Maybe Ellie too."

"It's likely."

"So things were looking good in Times Square. Until a thunder storm hit..."

* * *

_A harsh sound of thunder woke Ed from his sleep. He walked to the front of the store. The rain was pounding the glass and the wind shrieked. The thunder shook the earth and the lightning could blind a man. Ed made sure everything was sealed tight before attempting to go back to sleep once more._

_The storm roared on seeming to grow in intensity with each passing minute. After almost an hour the storm settled._

_The silence began to lull him back to sleep._

_Glass shattering followed by thunderous footsteps, and deep, inhumane growling pierced the silence. _

_Ed's eyes flew open and he carefully took a peek from behind a shelf, narrowly missing getting hit by a spore bomb. "Jesus!" Ed muttered._

_He watched as bloaters stormed the store, filling it beyond capacity as if it were Black Friday._

_It would be Black Friday if he didn't get out of here._

_He quickly gathered his belongings and opened the back door, hoping it led to an exit and not a storage closet._

_The door led to a corridor and at the end of the hall he could spot the letters that spell out exit._

_"Thank fucking god." He hightailed it to the door and opened it, a siren blaring out._

_"Fuck!"_

_A fire exit. With a fully functioning alarm._

_He knew this city was too damn quiet._

_It was the city that never sleeps after all._

* * *

"There were infected all over the streets. The fire alarm just calling them to me. I ran. Faster than I knew I could. They were hot on my tail and more and more kept coming out of the alleyways and buildings. It was obvious. Times Square was hit quick and hard with the infection."

"I'd already been bit so my worries weren't with getting infected. But I doubt I had much immunity against getting my vein torn out like it was a twizzler. Or having my jaw opened like it was an Easter egg."

Joel and Tommy nodded in understanding.

"Luckily a couple of them gave up in their hunt for me, something else must have caught their attention."

"After some time, I only had the bloaters and clickers on my tail. They move little slower. Eventually I found myself at Port Authority. Ran inside and barricaded the doors until I could find a suitable escape plan. No way in hell I was staying here. Times Square went from a gold mine to a coal mine."

* * *

_Ed had to move fast. The Bloaters were brutes and an army of them would have no problems breaking down the door to get their prey. Ed turned on his flashlight._

_He nearly threw up at the sight. He questioned how the smell didn't hit him sooner._

_There were bodies everywhere, it was a slaughter. Some people had so many holes in them Swiss cheese itself would be jealous. They were trying to escape, Port Authority was the best bet. But it led to their downfall. Men, women, children, their lives taken away from them._

_But considering how hard this city was hit with the infection, this was merciful. An eternity in the afterlife superseded whatever the life as an infected was._

_He carefully made his way through the terminal. He went gate to gate, to see if there were any buses that could be useful. He eventually got to gate 305. A majority of the buses here were small, but there was one that stood a bit larger, more sturdy. More than capable of running a hoard of infected without tilting._

_It'll do._

_Ed went up to the large bus and opened the door with fair ease._

_He found a bus driver slumped over the steering wheel, his skin a sickly pale. Upon inspection, his eyes were wide open, his jaw slack and there was a single bullet in his head. Ed shined his light down the bus and found no other passengers._

_Every man for himself._

_Ed tsked and carefully maneuvered the man off the bus, laying him gently on the ground, placing the drivers hands over his chest._

_"I hope you've found peace." Ed closed the man's eyes._

_The sounds of clicking began filling the air._

_"Crap." Ed quickly got onto the bus and managed to close the door behind him._

_The key was still in the ignition and he turned it. The engine and the bus roared to life._

_"159; Fort Lee, Linwood Park. Welcome aboard New Jersey Transit" The bus announced._

_Ed forgot how loud these buses could actually be._

_He pushed down on the gas pedal and as per command the bus moved forward. Ed spotted two clickers in the mirror, likely attracted by the bus' boisterous announcement. But they didn't pursue him. Instead they leaned down and feasted on the bus driver._

_Ed shook off the feeling of guilt and continued to peel out of the terminal. He eventually hit the Lincoln Tunnel and probably for the first time in the Tunnel's history he was able to coast through without traffic._

_Well there were plenty of cars. But this bus is a monster to these tiny inferior vehicles. Traffic laws and common road courtesy were a thing of the past. That's how he put in anyway._

_He got out of the tunnel just as the sun rose, the light hitting him almost square in the face. _

_Despite things looking bleak, Ed couldn't help but smile. He had doubts he'd last this long. Yet once again, a new day was upon him._

_"Caution bus is turning"_

* * *

"I got through to this small town of Fairview. Saw some cars nearby and thought I'd try to siphon some extra gas for the bus. The bus was going to be my best source of transport and likely my shelter for the time being so I was adamant on holding on to it. Scoured the area for extra supplies and found some ammunition for my pistol, a shotgun and a rifle. Got some extra food, water, and clothes while I was it. Then I got on the bus and kept pushing forward."

"Any idea where you wanted to go?" Tommy asked.

"Not the faintest idea. But I knew I wanted to be as far away from Boston and possibly any military as possible. I knew part of Fort Lee was a QZ so I couldn't risk being caught over there. There was more than a handful of QZs east coast, so avoiding QZs was my top priority. Can't exactly be low-key and stealthy while driving a big hunk of metal y'know?"

"I drove on over to Edgewater and settled down there for a bit while I figured out what would be the best place to head to. In my time in the fireflies I knew there were less QZs toward the east."

"Yeah I wondered why that was, especially in New Jersey. I recall Fort Lee, Leonia, and Teaneck being separate zones despite being so close to each other. Pretty sure Teaneck had at least three, one of them being a university. But as you went more east, some states would be lucky to have one." Tommy added

"Are those QZs still alive?" Ed asked.

"Bill and I had a smuggling arrangement with that university in Teaneck, but that place got overrun with infected. I remember hearing news that Fort Lee and Leonia combined and became Fort Leonia." Joel added. "Last I heard they're pretty well off, people are happy over there."

Ed nodded. There had to be a hay in the needle stack somewhere.

"With that known, I knew I had to keep pushing east. After a couple of days of driving, I made it to Conneticut."

"Hartford?" Joel asked.

Ed nodded.

Joel visibly winced. "That's one of the worst ones to be at."

"To be honest, if you were around to tell me that 15 years ago, I probably wouldn't have listened to you. Believe or not, Hartford at some port was a not a bad place to live."

"Hartford was one of the few places that didn't want my head. They accepted me in pretty well and without question, even though they knew I was firefly. Well, former firefly at that point."

Joel and Tommy shared astonished looks.

"So I wouldn't be wrong in assuming that something happened at Hartford to force you to leave again?" Tommy asked.

Ed let out a humorless laugh. "Tommy, from former firefly to former firefly, we can agree that fireflies can be annoying little pests right?"

* * *

Probably not the best style to have Italic font equaling the past and regular font equaling the present and then switching back and forth repeatedly but I felt uncomfortable doing a dialogue only chapter. If that throws you off, I apologize. And sorry for the long wait ^_^

This originally was going to be a lot more but after I made the switch from dialogue only to this, this chapter would have gotten a little too long lol. So this is just the beginnings of Ed's part and more will come soon. Stayed tuned =)

Thanks for reading and continuing to support this story! Love you all =D


	18. History

Chapter 18: History

_**"The military wanted order, but we were disorder." **_

"I think I can attest to that." Joel said.

"Tommy you already know this part well. As for you Joel, time for a bit of history." Ed stood up. His nerves were gone and he was certain no one, particularly Joel, wanted to kill him anymore.

"As the main leader of the fireflies I had a simple goal and vision; fight for the people and free them." Ed started. "But never once did I want to take out the military."

"You're screwing with me." Joel didn't believe it, couldn't believe it. Both sides were out for the other's blood, the fireflies in particular.

"People were miserable in the zones. They despised how the military ran things; poor rations, unreasonable &amp; dangerous job assignments, and overall abuse of power. Tempers would boil over and the need for rebellion grew. Problem is, people didn't know how, safely anyway. You so much as breathe out of line and it would mean a bullet in your head."

Joel would never forget the time he was pistol whipped for accidentally bumping into a soldier.

"Fireflies were a way for people to rebel, safely; with the assurance that you wouldn't be dead by week's end. We were a beacon of hope."

"A light in the darkness." Joel commented.

"I named them Fireflies for a reason, Joel. I didn't pick it because it sounded pretty." Ed chuckled.

Joel smirked. "Fair enough"

"We were a covert operation. We had dozens of recruits all over the country, all working within the zones. While we were helping the people and protecting them, my main priority was to create the vaccine. Once we were certain that it was 100% effective with little to no side effects, this is where we wanted to work with the military, to make peace."

"How were you going to do that when they wanted to rip your wings off?" Joel asked.

Tommy let out a small laugh.

Ed raised in eyebrow in amusement. "I think you'd enjoy explaining this part, Thomas. Go ahead, I need a drink of water, if you don't mind."

"Knock yourself out."

Ed turned and went to the kitchen.

"Now don't ask how we did it," Tommy started. "But somehow we got some people in the military to play double agent for us. Military by day, firefly by night. These people were in charge of the fireflies in that area. Once a week, there would be meetings; plans, exchange of intel, the works, with other fireflies in the zone. When it came to it, they would be the ones that would convince the rest to trust us, to work with us on our agenda."

"Ed wanted to distribute the vaccine to the zones and once everyone was vaccinated, there would be a test period. If everything went off without a hitch, Ed would move us on to the next phase."

Ed returned from the kitchen sipping on a cup of water.

"This is where Ed comes in."

"Alright, so once the people were guaranteed protection, it was time to move onto the next phase. My plans were to slightly alter the properties of the vaccine and use it as a cure. Turn it into an airborne agent and spray it all over the country, eventually the rest of the globe."

"You wanted to reverse the effects of the infection?" Joel asked.

"My studies concluded that my vaccine did had the ability to do that already. If someone was infected either by bite or breathing in spores, and was then administered the vaccine in a reasonable amount of time, it could fight off the infection completely as well as build up the immunity. With slight alterations, it potentially could revert an infection even if the person in question was a clicker or a bloater. I doubt it would happen right off the bat, likely a gradual process the further along one was."

"Even though I was a man of many things but I didn't have any godly idea of how to get a plane. That's where the military would come in. We hoped they would acquiesce with us on this. This is why attacked them nor had any intention to."

"Unfortunately, people got too excited, talking about fireflies left and right. Wasn't too long until the military caught wind of it. And they didn't like it. They saw the chaos the fireflies would bring and wanted to squash it." Tommy added in.

"See the military wanted order, but we were disorder. Therefore we had to be eliminated at any cost." Ed said. "With people being suspected of being part of the fireflies, people were being hauled in for questioning. We couldn't operate within the zones, at least in such large numbers. We scattered a bit more around the country and I had the firefly pendants made so we could quickly identify each other on the outside." Ed said.

"I made it clear to the rest of the fireflies; never confront the military. But as the military grew more determined to get rid of us, they found some of our bases and would attack. Our agents on the inside sent us weapons to defend ourselves. We only fought when provoked. They fired at us so we fired back."

"Long Island is the most infamous attack. Even to this day I remember it well." Ed sighed, tapping his fingers on the cup. "It seemed like when I died, my vision died with me. I expected Marlene to be able to continue my work. Keep the peace and continue working on the vaccine. But as it would turn out, I was wrong."

"The fireflies became...aggressive. More confrontational. It's as if they wanted retaliation. Revenge." Tommy added. "They became more focused on stripping the military of their power and trying to take over the zones. That's mainly why I left them. I believed in Ed's ideas, his dreams. Not Marlene's."

"I reckon with the revelation of Ellie's immunity they revived the vaccine project." Joel scowled. "But it don't make sense to me. I found a recording that implied there were more like Ellie out there. They had to have kept it going even after you died."

"Joel, believe me when I tell you this. I was the first, but not the only. Ellie and even Baron are testaments to that. There were a lot more between me and Ellie and if they haven't found them, then they truly lost sight of what the fireflies were out to do. And the way they were carrying out this vaccine project? Screwed up seven ways from Sunday. There was absolutely no need to kill the host to create it. The worst I ever did was extract some blood."

Joel pondered on that. It hurt him to lie to Ellie and he's almost certain she knew what he told her wasn't truth. But now, in some way, he's grateful that he did. And hopefully when everything came to surface, she'd be grateful too.

Ed took a seat again. "So that brings us to Hartford. The reason why Hartford was so accepting of me is because they were the one QZ that was an ally to the fireflies. Sure they were military but they sympathized with our cause. They hated how they were supposed to treat and "protect" the people. They wanted to do it in a more humane, moral way. Hartford was a safe haven for all, including fireflies. All they required of me was a name change and a slight change in appearance."

* * *

_**August 26th, 2019**_

_Ed arrived at the walls of Hartford, feeling uncertain that this was the wise choice. News of his death was certain to spread fast, military liked to boast like that. He wasn't sure what would happen if a supposed dead man showed up at the doors. If they shot him, he wouldn't blame them. He would have done the same if he were in their shoes.  
_

_Ed parked the bus, turned it off and put the key in his shirt pocket. He opened the door and stepped out. He shook out any lingering nerves, retied his hair in a low pony tail and began walking toward the gates._

_Once he arrived a few feet away from the gates, a voice boomed over the speaker. "Stop where you are! "Hands up!"_

_Ed was quick to follow the command._

_"State your name and your business!"_

_"Edward Williams. Seeking refuge, if you please."_

_Silence._

_"Open the gates! Let him in!"_

_Well that was easy._

_The gates opened to two officers standing there, guns ready and pointed straight at him._

_"Turn around, place your arms behind you." One of them commanded._

_Without a word, Ed followed. He felt a cold metal wrap around his wrists._

_Just protocol._

_"Come on, walk." He heard one the officers say._

_They took him beyond the gates and led him inside a building. They went up a flight of stairs and took him into a semi-dark room, pushing him down to take a seat at a large table. Once he was seated, the officers left the room, locking the door behind them._

_"They could have at least uncuffed me..." Ed thought out loud, feeling a cramp in his shoulders that he'd no doubt continue to feel in the morning._

_After several minutes, a man walked in, alone. He turned and flicked a switch, giving more light to the room. "Ah, that's better. Sorry about that, we gotta save power and all." The man said._

_The man was large, likely standing at 6'5" or 6'6" easy. Tan skin, dressed in a black uniform, pants and boots. His muscles threatened to burst through his shirt. A scruffy beard covered a jaw that could probably cut a man. He had a buzz cut, and proud scars littered his face._

_The image of a perfect soldier._

_Yet his brown eyes held a sort of calmness, ease, a reassurance that he wouldn't pick you up and snap you like a twig._

_Not right away anyway._

_The man took a seat at the other side of the table. He crossed his arms and looked at Ed. Moments would pass before he spoke again._

_"Edward Williams, huh?"_

_"Yes sir."_

_"You were in that attack on Long Island."_

_"Only one to survive. But the military doesn't know that." Ed responded._

_The man chuckled. "Long live the king."_

_Ed shrugged. People regarded him as such, but he never perceived himself as a king. He just wanted to do good, what was right, when seemingly no one else would._

_"Your arms must be killing you man. I always tell them not to have the cuffs too tight" The man stood and walked over to Ed. He unlocked the cuffs and removed them, placing them on the table._

_"Thank you." Ed rubbed his wrists and rolled his shoulders._

_Yep. He'll definitely be feeling this one tomorrow morning._

_"So," The man reached into his shirt, pulled out a pendant and flashed it at Ed. _

_Byron James 0094_

_"What brings you to Hartford?" Byron asked. "I'd imagine you're not here on official firefly business?"_

_"I wish I can say I am, but they think I'm dead. For the time being, they'll lay off on their attacks. It's best if I don't resurface for now, forever maybe. They figure if they take out the leader, the fireflies will crumble."_

_"I'll admit we've seen better days. We did lose some of our top guys in that attack. But Marlene's got control now." Byron responded._

_Ed nodded. "Good. I appointed her as second in command for a reason. I have no doubts that she'll straighten things out and keep things going in my absence."_

_"As for you, you're looking to keep the past in the past." Byron stated._

_"If it's not too much trouble."_

_Byron tsked and laughed loudly, seemingly shaking the walls with the force. "What kind of loyal subject would I be if I didn't serve the king, huh?" Byron laughed once more. Ed couldn't help but to laugh with him._

_Seriously. A guy like him? A king?_

_King Louis better watch out._

_"This is the time I usually run through the rest of the protocol, some questioning, checking for infections and the like. But I know your story. You've been bit, but you're cleaner than I was when I got out of rehab."_

_"Wouldn't hurt to check though." Ed responded._

_"I suppose so." Byron stood up, taking the scanner out of his pocket and pressed it to the back of Ed's neck. _

_After a few seconds, with no real surprise, the scanner stated he was clean._

_Byron was astonished. "Show me the bite mark?"_

_Ed pulled down his shirt to a bit to show the slightly faded bite mark on his left shoulder, courtesy of a clicker._

_"Incredible." Byron remarked. He went back around the table and sat down, leaning back to allow a foot to perch comfortably on the table's edge._

_"Alright, now if you want to stay here, you just have to do two things."_

_Ed leaned forward._

_"One, you can't go around as Edward Williams. King Eddie is dead. If word gets out that you're alive, fireflies and military alike will swarm this place. And trust me, shit will hit the fan hard if the military finds out we're on the fireflies' side. We're technically harboring a fugitive here."_

_Ed nodded in agreement. A fair and logical request._

_"Two, just as extra precaution, we gotta change your look. How attached are you to your hair?"_

_"Been trying to grow it out, a little surprised it's gotten this long."_

_"Unfortunately, that'll have to be an project for another day. How do you feel about a buzz cut? We got some of the best barbers in town. They could spruce you up a bit."_

_"Well Byron if you can pull off the buzz cut look so well, I suppose there's some hope for me." Ed responded._

_"A man after my own heart." Byron chuckled. "Alright, I'll let the guys know you're clear. All's left is the shower, and a hellacious amount of paper work."_

* * *

"So I took on the name of Aiden Andrews. A combination of my father's first name and my mother's maiden name. I cut my hair fairly short, and Byron gave me contact lenses, just as an extra option, but I didn't use them." Ed spoke.

"It was easy going once the hard part was over with. They gave me a rundown of the rules which were minimal and fair; don't get caught in the off limit areas which was pretty much outside the walls or in quarantined buildings, guns of any kind were not allowed, and curfew was from sundown to sunrise, in that time, 9pm to about 6am. They told me I'd be contacted on some job offers in the coming days, considerate enough to give me some time to get settled in and adjusted."

"They finished off by giving me the housing arrangements. There weren't many houses around, some houses were in the process of being refurbished, cleaned out, so I lived with someone for a good while. "Ed smiled fondly. And wouldn't you know it, that someone was an old friend."

* * *

_With everything done, Ed arrived at the house he was assigned to; House 553. He would be staying with somebody since housing was limited for the time being. Instead of just entering, he politely knocked on the door._

_Not too long after, he heard the unfastening of locks and the door was opened. Revealing a familiar face._

_The feeling was mutual._

_"Holy shit!-' Ed cut off his surprised remarks and quickly pushed him inside the house, shutting the door behind him._

_"Ed? Is that really you?"_

_"In the living flesh Tommy, but I'm not exactly Ed anymore."_

_Tommy's face scrunched up in confusion. _

_"It may be best for everyone if nobody knows that I'm alive. They're pretty satisfied that I'm dead so they'll leave the rest of you alone. It'll give you time to regroup. In the mean time, call me Aiden."_

_Tommy nodded in understanding. He led Ed into the living room, the both of them taking seats on the couch. "As you can imagine, we're a little worse for wear right now. I assume you talked to Byron on your way in?"_

_Ed nodded. "Yep."_

_"He and I are the only ones left here, and technically you I guess. Hartford was nice enough to let us know they're here to help us in whichever way they can but Marlene's called for most of us to regroup in Boston. Smugglers there are sneaking them in."_

_Ed found that peculiar. Most QZs were but Boston in particular was anti-firefly territory. Surely they would notice the sudden influx of people after the Long Island fire and find it suspicious. Unless they had a few choice people on the inside. _

_Nonetheless, Ed was confident that she knew what she was doing. "Marlene will ensure the fireflies will shine bright again, perhaps even brighter."_

_Ed pursed his lips, apprehension filling his face. Something that didn't go unnoticed by Ed._

_A question for later._

_"Right. Anyway, where've you been, man? For a guy who nearly burned to death you sure don't look it."_

_"The showers here were refreshing. Removed some of the ash I was sure was still all over my face and body. Burns are still healing though. As for my whereabouts, I've been around. Spent some time in Times Square."_

_"Now what the hell were you doing poking around in Times Square? That place got chewed up and spit out by the CBI."_

_"You don't have to tell me, I barely made it out of there with my life. After that fiasco I got to Jersey to gather my bearings then took a chance on coming here."_

_"So, what's next for you then? No fireflies, obviously."_

_Ed shrugged. "Live the quarantine life, I suppose. Hartford is one of the nicer ones to be at so I won't be miserable. I'm sure if not you, then at least Byron will keep me updated on what's going on with the fireflies. Maybe if the time is right, I'll make a triumphant return."_

_"Well I'll be sure to roll out the red carpet for you when that happens." Tommy laughed._

_"Be sure there's paparazzi too."_

_**December 25th, 2019**_

_Winter quickly engulfed Hartford. Things were a little rough, due to winter hitting as soon as October finished. There were some nights where heating systems failed and extra blankets were given out or made to provide the extra warmth. Food source was scarce and rations had to suffer a bit. But since this wasn't a regular occurance, the citizens were forgiving. Some of them offering to go hunting, something that was usually left to the military there since they didn't want to put the citizens in any danger._

_Overall there were no hard feelings or animosity. Everyone was working together as a cohesive unit to ensure they'd make it through the winter._

_As for Ed, he settled in well and peacefully. No one was the wiser of his true identity. He worked as an announcer, doing the morning and evening announcements as well as inform the zone of any important need to know news throughout the day. On days that news were slow, he'd work the ration lines._

_Except today was Christmas, all citizens were off, free to do as they wished._

_It was six in the evening, but the sky was already dark as if it were midnight. Since the days were shorter, curfew was a lot sooner. But Hartford made an exception on curfew tonight, holding a Christmas dinner at a school cafeteria. Though Ed and Tommy opted for a quiet night at home. _

_Ed cooked dinner while Tommy did some reading in the living room. Both of them likely thinking similar thoughts._

_The fireflies were quiet. Not quiet in the sense that they were probably still regrouping but they more distant. Byron regularly forwarded reports from the fireflies to Tommy and by extension Ed. But as the months went by they became less detailed and vague._

_Byron hadn't been able to get into contact with them since Thanksgiving._

_Had something happened? Did they give up and disband?_

_Both of them were brought out of their thoughts by a frantic knocking at their door._

_Ed turned the burner off and walked into the living to see Byron talking to Tommy. _

_"God fucking damn it. Shit!"_

_This obviously was not good news._

_"Tommy? Byron? What happened?"_

_Ed could feel the anger radiating from Tommy and Byron. If he was quick enough to catch and store it, he could use it as an extra heat source for the winter._

_"The fireflies attacked Boston."_

* * *

Two updates in one week? What kind of sorcery? XD

So some history, backstory, insight on the fireflies, and Marlene keeping the dream alive? Love to hear your thoughts and any suggestions if you have some. Again, if this format of switching back and forth between present and past bothers you, I apologize. This is the best way I can do this without drowning y'all in dialogue lol.

Thanks for reading!


	19. Hope in Hartford

Chapter 19: Hope in Hartford

"I was supposed to be happy. A new year had been brought in and once again, I had managed to see it. But I could feel nothing but grief, guilt, and regret. The casualties from that attack were high. Most of it were military, but a good chunk were innocents. Innocents had their lives taken away by the people who swore to help and protect them. I couldn't sleep or eat for days." Ed said, his voice stricken with sadness.

"I remember that, I was in Boston when it happened." Joel said. " Boston was left in shambles, and they had us under lockdown for weeks. Amount of arrests went through the roof. Public executions of supposed and actual fireflies were almost daily."

"I never intended for this to happen." Ed said. "That alone almost made me come out of hiding, to reclaim my throne and try to undo all of this. Set the fireflies back on track."

"Oh so all that modesty about being a king WAS just a front. You did think of yourself of a king!" Tommy poked Ed in the arm.

Ed tapped his hand away. "Well fuck me for trying to be a little poetic." The three of them shared a laugh.

"So what stopped the king from reclaiming his throne then?" Joel asked.

"We just had a new addition to Hartford, a baby boy. If I came out of hiding now, fireflies, in their renewed vigor, could get the wrong idea and set their sights on Hartford. With such a little one around, I couldn't afford that chance. I couldn't live with that."

* * *

**January 15th, 2020**

_Ed requested some time off from work. Since he was a hard worker and well liked they granted him the break and gave him all the time that he needed, he could return to work at any time he wished. He took full advantage of that.  
_

_Ed spent his days on sitting on a a chair, in front of his bedroom window, staring at the clouds, reflecting on what had happened. Hoping it was all a terrible dream, a hoax. But his hopes fell hard and fast through the clouds, hitting the ground with a deep thud._

_Fireflies sent in a report to Byron for the first time in what seemed like forever. And it felt like salt was just being rubbed on the wound. Casualties were in the high hundreds. A good percentage were military, as the fireflies intended, but many innocents were caught in the crossfire. It made Ed angry. It made him sick to his stomach._

_He thought of Ellie. Little Ellie. She was still in Boston. The thought of Ellie being among the innocent victims. Sure he entrusted Marlene to look after her but seeing her recent actions, he wasn't too sure._

_If Ellie was hurt..._

_Ed stood up, nearly sending the chair tumbling over, and punched the wall, hard enough to leave an indent. He could barely feel the pain, but he felt a distinct throbbing in his shoulder. He brought a hand up to rub it._

_He had to be careful._

_That report also had mentions of a lockdown. Because of this, .Marlene planned for them to move out of Boston, dispersing them to the north and south (Tommy and Byron would stay put). Another report came in a few days afterwards. A couple of fireflies managed to get out of Boston, but for an unfortunate few, they were captured and made an example of. Since the military didn't have a solid idea on who was firefly and who wasn't, Ed was willing to bet that even more innocents were among the midst._

_The bottom of that report: Retaliation is on the horizon._

_Ed took that report, tore it up, and burned it to ashes._

_He began to weigh his options. He could come out of hiding, come back from the dead. Reclaim the fireflies and put them back on the path they were on originally. But he wondered if the damage had already been done and could be irreversible. Due to his and Marlene's apparent difference in ideologies, his return could send the fireflies in a tail spin. There could be a god damn anarchy!_

_But the more he remains in hiding, the more damage that could be done. How long would it be until the fireflies turn on Hartford? Or vice versa? Ed could only hope none of those scenarios would come to pass. The odds of it happening appear astronomical when he thought about it. Boston seems to be the fireflies' main target. There's a reason why the fireflies attacked Boston and not anywhere else. That attacked was fueled solely on getting payback. And they got in spades.  
_

_Ed sat back down, ran a hand through his lengthening hair and sighed. All this fighting could eventually wear out Boston, lead to its downfall. Retribution for the fireflies. But that would leave many displaced and vulnerable._

_Boston was not close to any other QZ. It would be quite the trek to get here or anywhere else. Ed wasn't sure he could live with that on his consciousness._

_Ed was brought out of his thoughts by a knocking on his door._

_"Come in." Ed said._

_The door opened and Tommy walked in. "Hey."_

_"Afternoon."_

_"How're you doing?" Tommy took a seat on Ed's bed._

_"I'm alright." Ed stood up, stretched his legs and cracked his back, wincing at a particularly loud crack. Sitting on a chair for a couple of days can do that to a person._

_Tommy took in Ed's appearance and knew he was far from alright. He was on the opposite side of the spectrum._

_Ed had deep bags under his eyes and appeared to drop some weight due to not eating properly (he would eat the bare minimum at most). Tommy knew Ed. He was someone who cared deeply about others, it's the main reason he founded the fireflies. He took in others' pain and made it his own. And in that, once he relieves the pain for himself he ends up relieving the pain for them too. But this time, it looked like Ed couldn't do that. And it was tearing him apart._

_"Listen uh, the Nicholsons are inviting people over to see their newborn baby boy. Was wondering if you wanted to tag along, get some air?" Tommy asked tentatively._

_Ed didn't want go anywhere or do much of anything really. But he figured the fresh air could do him some good. "Sure, let me just get cleaned up."_

_Tommy was surprised but didn't say anything and chose to leave the room. He was sure it would take more convincing to get Ed to come, he was prepared to fight to his wits end to get him to tag along._

_Ed was a complex man when he wanted to be._

_A few minutes later, Ed emerged from his bedroom, his face looking fresher, dressed in a red button up shirt with a black t-shirt underneath, jeans, and black converse. His hair was tied back and he completed the look with a pair of glasses._

_The two of them left the house and made the fairly short walk to the Nicholson's house. It wasn't everyday a baby was born during these times. But it was still a happy occasion, even after the world has gone to shit._

_Once they arrived at the house, numbered 592, Tommy knocked on the door. Not even a moment later, the door opened to reveal a young boy, probably no older than 12.  
_

_"Hey Tommy!"_

_"What's up little man, up top." The boy jumped to meet Tommy's hand for a high five._

_"Who's your friend?" The young boy asked._

_"This is Aiden Andrews, he came in a few months ago."_

_"Nice to meet you, Aiden, I'm Henry."_

_"Hello Henry, nice to meet you too."_

_The boy smiled, it was infectious. Ed couldn't help but crack one too._

_"So I guess you guys are here to meet my little brother?" Henry stepped aside to allow Ed and Tommy in._

_"My mom had him just as the new year came in, he's a new year's baby."_

_"Just like Ellie." Ed muttered to himself._

_Henry led the two of them into the living room, where a man and a woman were sitting on the couch._

_"Mom, dad. Tommy and his friend are here to see the baby." The boy announced._

_"Good to see you Tommy." The man stood up and shook Tommy's hand, then turning his attention to Ed. "And what's your name, son?"_

_"Aiden, came in a few months ago, pleasure to meet you sir."_

_"Ah I recognize that voice, you do the announcements. Nice to meet you." He shook Ed's hand. "I'm Jacob and this is my wife Ellen." Ellen smiled and waved at Ed, making Ed feel welcome._

_"So where is the man of the hour?" Ed asked._

_"We just put him down for nap, but you're still more than welcome to see him." Ellen said._

_The five of them went upstairs and stopped at the first door. on the left Jacob slowly opened the door and beckoned everyone inside, urging them to be quiet as they walked in. When they reached the crib, they found the baby wide awake, kicking his legs, playing and sucking on his hands._

_"Well we thought we put him down for a nap." Ellen laughed._

_The baby gurgled, a small smile building on his face, not at all bothered by the amount of people surrounding his crib._

_Ed didn't consider himself to be the Grinch by any means but he felt his heart increasing in size. And in that moment, he finally came to a decision to a conflict that had been plaguing his mind for days. The baby made eye contact with Ed, and began to clap his hands and laugh._

_"May I?" Ed asked._

_"Of course. As you can see, he doesn't mind strangers at all" Ellen said._

_Ed reached in and rubbed his index finger gently against the baby's cheek. The baby reached up and grabbed Ed's finger, bringing it to his mouth and deciding that sucking on it was a much better option._

_Ed's heart fluttered. "He's precious. What's his name?"_

_"His name is Sam."_

* * *

"Wait, you two knew Sam and Henry?" Joel asked.

The two of them were shocked. "You've met them?" Ed asked.

"Ellie and I traveled with them for a bit."

"Huh, small world. They must have left after Hartford eventually collapsed in on itself." Ed said. "Where are they now? Did they come with you?"

A somber look filled Joel's face. The memory was not a pleasant one. By that point, Joel had become numb to the idea of death. He would not hesitate to take a life away if it meant his or Ellie's survival. But to see someone take their own life away, that's not something you see everyday. There's no preparation for it. For the first time in 20 years, death had shaken him to his core.

And his silence said all that was needed to be said.

"Oh no..." Ed said. "God, anyone but them."

"Damn." Tommy muttered. "How did it happen?"

"Sam got bit, kept it hidden from us and had turned by the next day. He attacked Ellie and Henry shot him. Then turned the gun on himself."

"God bless them, I hope they're resting easy." Ed said. "They were good kids. I could see it in Henry's eyes, he would protect his baby brother to the end."

"And he did." Joel wondered if by killing Sam, Henry actually was trying to protect him. To save him of a life of being an infected. Spreading the poison and killing indiscriminately. It wasn't a life to live by any means.

That's what Joel liked to think at least. It helps in keeping the nightmares at bay.

"I looked at that little boy, right in his eyes. He more than anyone else needed Hartford to stay peaceful. Hartford was a safe haven, a place for him to grow up without having to experience the horrors of the world. Coming out of hiding could mean war on Hartford's doorstep. I supposed I could get over what had happened in Boston. And assuming that Marlene had her wits about her to keep Ellie way out of the crossfire, I guess I could sleep easy." Ed shook his head. Now that he reflects on it, he felt stupid for thinking like that.

"Things got quiet after that. Fireflies launched smaller attacks against the military but nothing of real notice, far less bloody too. It was mostly sabotage of weapons, creating fake ration cards and distributing them to the people, getting more involved with the smugglers, that sort of thing. The military were still as aggressive as ever. Fireflies were still a thorn in their sides, the disorder to their order."

"Hartford remained the same, though they have changed up their rules a bit to not rouse any suspicion. Curfew was now 6 to 6 like it was pretty much anywhere else. They allowed some leniency if you were out an hour after or before, but you were punished with hard labor if you were caught any other time. They wanted to step up their security but their numbers were small. They didn't want to chance bringing in someone from the outside, so they enlisted the citizens. But they kept it to working in the guard towers or surveillance rooms, nothing on the outside, keeping their promise." Tommy added. "Things changed but the dynamic remained the same. No budding hatred or animosity from the citizens. The military had a firmer hand but they still played fair."

"Spring arrived and two more people had joined the population of Hartford. A man and a woman, their names were Chase and Deborah. Fairly young, probably in their early 20s. To everyone else they seemed like modest people."

"And you didn't see them as such?" Joel asked.

"For a while I thought they were. Looking them over I saw they had some pretty bad scars and bruises. Probably went through hell and back to get to Hartford, hearing how it was so nice there." Ed sighed. "Then Byron received a report saying they were fireflies, but why they were sent to Hartford wasn't disclosed. I'll admit seeing two more fireflies being added to Hartford made me a bit nervous especially since I'd never seen these two before nor did I recall enlisting them. But I figured they were new so they wouldn't really know my face."

Ed paused, letting out a small chuckle.

"I couldn't have been more wrong."

* * *

A little brief, probably not the best, and bit more dialogue heavy, hope that's alright!

Thank you to those who recently favorited/followed this story =D. Feel free to review as well =) I'd love to know what you guys think of Ed now. Do you still feel the same way about him or is your opinion starting to shift a little?


End file.
